


The Price of Peace

by LittleWhiteTie, SonderQuill (underHiswings)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron)-centric, Gen, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron)-centric, POV Allura (Voltron), POV Keith (Voltron), POV Shiro (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Whump, Shiro (Voltron)-centric, not a typical sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 17:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleWhiteTie/pseuds/LittleWhiteTie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/underHiswings/pseuds/SonderQuill
Summary: To form an important alliance, the leaders of Voltron must take part in an initiation ceremony that only happens once every few years. But something on the planet is not as it seems.Their lions malfunction and crash far from the city. Their Altean technology stops working, leaving them stranded without weapons or a way to contact the Castleship. And to make things worse, Shiro is starting to fall ill to an unknown cause. . . .





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My addition to the Voltron Gen Reverse Mini Bang 2018 on tumblr. Thanks to LittleWhiteTie for the beautiful art and for being such an amazing partner! Couldn't have done this without you :)
> 
> Notes:
> 
> This was written before Season Six. It takes place sometime between Season Three and Season Four, when Shiro (in this fic it's the real Shiro) is with the team but Keith is still Black Paladin. (Keith is still very unhappy about that, by the way.) Allura's in Blue, Keith's technically Black's pilot but Shiro's in the backseat.
> 
> Just a head's up: Shiro gets the most whump, as prescribed by the artist, but don't worry-- Keith and Allura get their time to shine, too!
> 
> This story is based off of LittleWhiteTie's art (which will be shown in the fic, as well as linked below):  
> https://littlewhitetie.tumblr.com/post/175938667922/my-piece-for-the-voltrongenminibanga-reverse

“Allura?” Keith asked. No response.

Shiro glanced at the panels. “Something’s wrong with the Black Lion.”

“Allura? Can you hear me?” Keith grunted in frustration. “Arghh, comms are down. I can’t contact the Castle either.”

Shiro gripped the back of Keith’s seat. His stomach lurched. “We’re dropping.”

“We’ve lost visuals now. What is going _on_ ,” Keith growled.

“Don’t know. Try to reach out to the Black Lion, Keith. Maybe you can fix it.”

Keith squeezed his eyes shut. Shiro’s feet left the ground as Black’s gravity generator failed. He clenched the back of the pilot seat and bit his tongue to keep from breaking Keith’s concentration.

“Shiro,” Keith let out a whoosh of frustrated defeat, “I can’t do it. I can’t reach the Black Lion.”

“There isn’t time to doubt yourself, Keith, just do it!”

“Shiro, _I can’t_.”

The ground was rushing up to meet them. “Do it, Keith!”

“You don’t understand, Shiro, the connection’s _gone_. The Black Lion isn’t responding to me— _at all_!”

The view-screens flashed red in warning and then cut out. Shiro swallowed. “You have to keep trying.”

“Oh, like you did?!”

That stung.

“We don’t have time for this, Keith.”

“No, we don’t. We’re gonna die like this, fighting each other.” Keith clenched the controls tighter. “I hate arguing with you all the time, Shiro. I can’t keep going like this.”

“We don’t argue all the ti—”

“Yeah, we do! Just like we’re doing now! And I am sick and _tired_ of it!”

The view-screens were gone, but Shiro could feel the Black Lion hurtling down to meet the ground of the foreign planet. At the altitude they’d started, the crash would probably kill them. The Black Lion wasn’t responding, and there was no emergency power they could access without it. They were going to die.

Shiro couldn’t keep going like this either. Whatever rift had formed between them, it had to end today.

“Keith—”

“ _What_?” he snapped.

“I… Keith, I’m sorr—”

There was a loud _crash_ , and then darkness.

 

_“Allura—”_

The communication line shorted out. Warning signals flashed a harsh red across the Blue Lion’s screens.

“What’s happening?” Allura shrieked. Her fingers dashed across the hologram keyboard on her left, her other hand gripping the control yoke with a death hold. Blue emitted a soft groan in her head.

She stared through the flickering view-screens and watched the ground rushing up to greet her. _We’re falling too fast._

“Blue? What’s wrong?” Allura tugged at the right yoke, but Blue didn’t alter their descent. The lion only moaned in response.

A large black object— the Black Lion, she realized— hurtled down beside her, just off to the right. Keith and Shiro must have lost power too. What kind of weapon could render the lions useless without a blow?

She closed her eyes and focused on the Blue Lion. She felt that familiar wave of Blue’s quintessence washing over her, but the connection was weak and filled with turmoil. She concentrated, focusing her spirit on that tiny little stream between them.

“Please, Blue, let me help.”

The Blue Lion allowed her inside its mind. In her mind’s eye, she placed a hand on Blue’s nose and willed her quintessence to imitate the lion’s. Suddenly her own quintessence bubbled and ebbed like water within her, and she poured it out into Blue. Their shared quintessence churned and flowed freely as it mixed, calming the lion and steadying the link between them. The Blue Lion flickered back to life.

Allura smiled, and as one they pulled to a halt right before they hit the ground. Blue settled awkwardly on the planet’s sand dunes. Allura felt Blue grunt with the effort to stay upright.

She twisted in her seat, peering through the staticky view-screens. “Where is the Black Lion?” Had Keith been able to stop their fall as she had? Blue turned, and she saw the dark mass in the distance. The Black Lion laid on its side, half-buried in sand. It didn’t move.

“Oh no,” she breathed. The Blue Lion seemed to understand and stumbled forward by itself. When it reached the larger lion, Blue shuddered to a halt and collapsed.

The view-screens disappeared. The emergency lights inside the cockpit turned on. Allura traced her fingers across one of the control yokes. “Blue?”

She could feel their link fading again, and she realized there was nothing more she could do. Right now, she needed to check on Keith and Shiro. Then they could try to fix their lions.

Allura pried open the cockpit door and raced down the jaw ramp. Blue had just enough energy to open its mouth for her, but as soon as she was outside, it slid shut. Their link cut off completely, and the glow in Blue’s yellow eyes faded. A pang of concern washed over her.

_Don’t worry, Blue, we’ll fix this. I’ll be back for you._

“Keith!” she called, running to the Black Lion’s half-buried head. Both exits were blocked. Black’s mouth was in the sand and the exit on top of its head was buried deep in the sand hill. She ran toward the massive belly, mentally going through each possible exit. Collarbone entry; not manual. Without power it would be nonfunctional. Neck entry; buried. Lower chest exit, maybe?

She ducked underneath the lion’s foreleg and stopped. The chest exit was also buried, but there was a concave area above it where the sand had dipped down. It wasn’t buried as deep as it had been.

“Shiro?” she called, getting on her knees by the sunken area above the exit. She pulled off her helmet and used it to start scooping out sand. “Keith? Can either of you hear me?”

There was a muffled sound, and then the sand sunk further as if sucked from below. Had they managed to leverage open the exit manually? She dug faster.

There was a muffled sound that sounded like,“-lura?”

Her heart leapt. “Yes!” She couldn’t tell which paladin had spoke, but _someone_ had, and that was what mattered. “Yes, I’m here! I’m digging you out!”

The planet’s sun beat hard on her exposed neck. The air was dry and utterly hot. She was thankful she had her gloves on, otherwise she probably would have acquired blisters from the heat and friction. But she kept digging, and she could tell the others were too. The sand shifted and sunk from their efforts. Soon she could see just beneath the rim of the exit.

“Paladins? Are you all right?”

“We’re OK,” came Shiro’s voice. Allura thought she saw movement in the tiny hole, but it was so dark within that she couldn’t be sure. “Nothing worse than a few bruises.”

The sand sifted a little lower. Allura returned to digging. “And Keith?”

A soft _clank_. “Yeah, I’m here.” He didn’t sound particularly happy about it.

She let out a sigh. “That’s a relief. The Black Lion took quite a fall.”

“Tell me about it,” Keith grumbled.

Allura reminded herself that that was sarcasm and not an actual request. She kept silent and continued to scoop out sand. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple.

“Did you see what hit us, Princess?” Shiro’s voice wafted through the tiny opening.

“I don’t think we were hit,” Keith said. “I would’ve felt it.”

“Well, what else could it’ve been?”

“I don’t know, but we _weren’t_ hit with anything.” A pause. “At least not physically.”

Allura pursed her lips in thought. “I didn’t see anything unusual, but whatever it may have been, it affected both of our lions. I only just managed to give the Blue Lion enough power to prevent our crash.”

There was silence in the hole for a moment, a strange sort of tension. Keith mumbled to himself. Clearly something was upsetting him, but she decided not to pry. By now the opening had grown to about the size of a royal Altean serving platter.

“Keith, I think the hole is big enough for you to fit through,” she said, wiping loose strands of hair out of her face. Already she was covered with dust and sandy grime. _How unpleasant._

There was a pause, and then Keith’s face appeared in the dark hole. He studied the rim. “I don’t think I can fit yet.”

“It would be a squeeze, sure enough, but if you give me your hands, I can pull you free.”

Keith considered. Strangely enough, Shiro didn’t offer his input.

“OK,” he finally said, and he fit his arms, then his head, through. She stood, took his wrists, and pulled. It was definitely tight, and at one point his chest plate got stuck, but eventually he made it.

Keith dusted off his armor and stood. He shielded his eyes from the sun, unaccustomed to the sudden light, and surveyed the terrain as Allura resumed her work.

“And I thought Arizona was a desert,” Keith said idly. He stared off into the horizon a little longer, thinking, and then knelt to aid Allura.

Shiro’s hands came into view as he pulled a large pile of sand down into the Black Lion’s interior. They’d have to clean up later. Coran would have a fit. “Arizona’s nothing,” Shiro said. “You should’ve seen the Sahara.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Stop rubbing it in, Mr. I-Got-to-See-the-World-Because-I’m-a-Certified-Pilot.”

“Actually it was for Kerberos training, but I digress.”

Allura had no idea what they were talking about, and they forgot to clue her in. But she was quite used to that by now. Keith just rolled his eyes in response.

Finally, they were able to dig out enough sand for Shiro to crawl through. Thankfully he’d had the good sense to grab Black’s emergency kit first, because the Blue Lion was unresponsive by the time they tried to retrieve the other one. Now the trio rested beneath the shade of the Black Lion’s giant, limp foreleg while Keith took inventory.

“Bad news or good news first?” he eventually asked, looking up from the single kit.

“The good news,” Allura said at the same time that Shiro said, “the bad news.”

Keith looked from one to the other and quirked an eyebrow at Shiro. “Why are you always so pessimistic?”

“I’m not.” He shrugged. “I’m a realist. In this situation, the bad news would be more profitable to hear.”

Allura hid her snort. Keith didn’t. “Yeah, sure. Whatever,” he said, shaking his head. Shiro opened his mouth to protest, but Keith cut him off.

“So, the _good_ news is: we have food, water, a tent, and the Altean version of a space blanket. We also have the Altean equivalent of a basic first aid kit, which I doubt we’ll need, and a weird metal stick.” He held up the object.

Allura recognized it immediately. “Oh, that’s a vlaxyur.”

Shiro made an amusing face as he looked from the vlaxyur to Allura and back. “And that is…?”

“It is like the meat thermometer that Hunk and Coran use in the kitchen, except that it measures the air condition for abnormalities instead of the temperature of an organic surface.”

Keith blinked, clearly not understanding a thing she’d said, and put the vlaxyur back in the little box of supplies without asking for further explanation. “And we have a meat tester for the air.”

Allura leaned forward and, in an attempt to stop them from looking at her so strangely, said, “The original Black Paladin liked to have one handy on missions. It was his favorite tool.” That information didn’t seem to help either.

“Anyway,” Shiro said, thankfully breaking the silence. “I vote we head for the nearest town. Maybe some of the locals can give us a lift to the captial city.”

“I suppose that is best,” Allura said, “but I do not know what direction that might be. Blue turned upon landing in order to find you, so her current orientation is useless.”

“And the Black Lion spun as she fell,” Keith added. He glanced up at the sky. “Doesn’t help that the sun’s directly overhead, either. No point of reference.”

“Whatever affected the lions has also made my armor stop working,” Allura said. “The cooling unit is broken and so is everything else.”

Keith huffed. “Same.”

“So,” Allura said, “what do we do?”

Shiro crossed his arms, looking out into the distant horizon. “Then I guess we’ll just have to pick a direction and hope for the best.” He stood up. “Let’s get moving. We don’t have time to waste if we’re going to make it to that alliance ceremony in the city.”

“Wait.” Keith closed the lid on the supply kit . “I didn’t tell you the bad news.”

Allura felt a small twinge of nervousness in the pit of her stomach. “Yes?”

“The kit only has enough food to last about nine meals— three days, for the normal consumption rate of three meals a day.”

Shiro cocked his head slightly. “That isn’t too bad. If we rationed it, we could make it last for a week or two. We’d miss the ceremony and fail to add another planet to the Coalition, but at least we’d be alive.”

“Yeah, under _normal_ circumstances that would work,” Keith said.

Allura suddenly understood, and her stomach dropped. “That kit was made to provide for one person only.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. “…Not three,” he finished quietly.

“Right,” Keith said. He stood, too, and tucked the kit under one arm. “With three people, we’d be lucky to make the rations last even _two_ days. I’m not Pidge, but even I can do the math, Shiro.”

Allura stared at the sandy helmet in her hands. _Two days, under favorable circumstances. But stranded in the middle of a huge desert on a planet that is not fond of outsiders? I would say that this is most definitely less-than-favorable._

“Well, then…” Shiro took a breath and squared his shoulders. “I guess our best hope is to get going.”

“Why… is the stupid ceremony…,” Keith stopped for breath, “…so _important_ … again?”

They had been walking for what must have been hours, but the alien sun had barely even shifted in the sky. It persisted to bare down on them, relentless, clamping down on the air to prevent even the slightest breeze from easing their suffering. It was like trying to walk through an endless oven. The miles and miles of sand made the trek even slower.

“I think,” Shiro panted, “they won’t let us ally with them… unless we are formally accepted onto their planet… as guests… I think.”

“Oh.” Keith wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Typical, stupid customs…”

“Let’s…,” Allura sucked in a breath, “…stop, for a moment… if we are going to speak.”

“We don’t have _time_ ,” Shiro said, ignoring his tired legs. “We have to keep going.”

Allura and Keith continued behind him, silently enduring just as he was. He had underestimated how far they’d go for the mission. They were more like him than he’d thought.

“This is why…” Keith rasped, “...I am _not_ a diplomat.”

Allura grinned, and Shiro managed a dry chuckle. He glanced up at the sky to check for any signs of the sun lowering, but for some reason the sky seemed to tilt. His balance was thrown off.

Allura reached out a hand to steady him. “The heat is getting to you, isn’t it?”

Dizziness. Was he experiencing heat exhaustion? That wasn’t good. He remembered from his Garrison days that heat exhaustion, if left untreated, would lead to heat stroke. And that _really_ wouldn’t be good.

Keith pulled out the small water canister from the Black Lion’s emergency kit and handed it to him. Shiro waved him off. “We need to save it.”

Keith’s dusty face scrunched up in what might’ve been a pout. “Yeah, well, it won’t do you any good to save it if you’re not alive to drink it later.”

Shiro hesitated. His mouth was so dry… and a heat stroke would just make things harder on everyone.

“Fair point,” he finally said, and took a tiny sip before handing it to Allura. She barely glanced at it before carefully taking a few swallows. Keith had his turn and then he put it away.

“Perhaps we should leave our armor behind,” Allura said. “We won’t have as much protection or be able to contact the Castle of Lions if it started working again, but we could travel lighter and cooler.”

They agreed and left their outer armor behind, just wearing the dark flight suits underneath. The black color was a little hotter, but the less weight and insulation made up for it.

They kept walking.

 

 

…and walking…

 

 

…and walking some more.

Even though sweat drenched Shiro’s face, it didn’t help the heat.

Allura had changed her skin tone in order to better protect from the intense sunlight. Keith’s face and hands were as red as his former lion. Shiro felt sick.

He knew it was a heavy onset of heat exhaustion. The dizziness and headache were sure signs, and his left calf had cramped up twice already. He needed to get out of the sun soon, but that was impossible in the middle of a desert. Besides, they _all_ needed to get out of the sun. Complaining wouldn’t help any.

The trek dragged on.

 

 

 

The sun had only moved about two inches lower since they’d crashed, yet it felt like they’d been awake for over a day.

What choice did they have? They needed rest, sure, but they needed a lot of things that weren’t available right now. Rest would just have to be one of those things.

Sleeping out here in the bare sun would surely mean death.

Their burning feet pushed further along the endless sandy dunes.

 

 

Keith stopped passing around the water container as often.

Which was fine with Shiro, really. He didn’t think he’d be able to keep it down anyway.

 

 

His legs were moving by themselves now. His focus grew hazy. At some point his eyes drifted shut as he continued walking behind Keith.

 

 

The next thing he knew, his face was stinging sharply and Keith was ranting angrily about something. He cracked his eyes open, but as he blinked, his grainy lids rubbed his eyesballs raw like sandpaper. Everything ached. His body felt heavy.

“Shiro?” Allura said, cutting off Keith’s heated gibberish, her voice slow and clear. “Can you understand me?”

When he tried to move his lips, they were cracked and hard. It was like he had the beak of a bird. He managed a weak, “uh-huh,” and squinted up at her.

Her face was in shadow, backlit by the glaring sun. She was so dirty and unkempt that her skin looked like a different color, and he almost didn’t recognize her. Keith’s head leaned over him and blocked out some of the light. He lightly tapped Shiro’s face. “You OK?”

“Wut—,” Shiro coughed. It hurt. “What happened?”

“You fainted,” Allura said softly. “Can you sit up?”

Keith took his shoulders and helped pull him to a sit. The world spun.

“Woah there, careful,” Keith said. He adjusted his position to let Shiro lean on him. Allura stood up, and it took Shiro longer than probably a healthy amount of time to realize that she had grown her form to block the sunlight. It only provided shade for his head, but he was still immensely thankful and tried to show it. “Thanks… but we need… to keep going.”

Keith opened his mouth to fire back a retort, but then something changed in his expression and kept him from saying it. He and Allura shared a look. Shiro was too tired to care much.

“You’re right,” Keith admitted in quiet voice. He opened the kit again.  “Drink some water and we’ll get going.”

“…M’kay,” he mumbled. He had to restrain himself from not swallowing too much. He handed it back to Keith and apologized for slowing them down.

“Hey, it’s all right,” Keith said. “I’m not feeling that great, myself. By this point, it could’ve happened to any of us. You’re doing fine.”

It only made him feel worse that they were bad off enough for even Keith to admit weakness.

“Please, Shiro,” Allura pleaded, “tell us when you are feeling faint again, and we will rest.”

He nodded but doubted he’d remember to say something next time. It’s not like he fainted on purpose. Besides, they didn’t have time to rest. They didn’t have time to sit here waiting on him to toughen up. He struggled to rise.

Together, Keith and Allura helped him to his feet—man, why was the heat affecting _him_ so much more than the others?— and Allura slung his arm over her shoulder. She readjusted her size to better accomodate his height.

“I can take first shift,” Keith grabbed Shiro’s other wrist, eager to help, before dropping it quickly with a pained yelp. “ _Quiznak_ , Shiro! Your arm!” Keith stuck his fingers in his mouth.

Confused, he glanced down at his prosthetic.

Allura’s eyes widened. “The metal…”

Realization dawned. The flight suit was keeping the upper part of his Galra arm from being exposed to direct sunlight, thus keeping it at just a low enough temperature to keep from burning his skin at the contact point, but from the wrist down—where it was exposed— themetal was probably past the boiling point of water. Was that why he was feeling so much worse than the others?

“Sorry, Keith, I didn’t think—“

Keith stubbornly pulled his fingers out of his mouth to speak. “I didn’t either. It’ll heal, so don’t worry about it.”

Shiro couldn’t help feeling guilty anyway.

Allura looked ahead of them, where a particularly large sand dune stood above them, tall and intimidating. Shiro followed her gaze and immediately dreaded climbing it.

Allura almost seemed to read his mind. “Keith, could you perhaps inspect the route ahead of us? That hill looks rather difficult…”

 _…For me,_ Shiro thinks, hearing the unspoken part.

Keith looked up at it and wiped his burned hand on his undersuit. Shiro could tell he wasn’t looking forward to that climb either, but before Shiro could tell him not to worry about it, Keith mumbled a “Yeah, I got it,” and started up the hill.

“Thank you,” Allura called, and began to help Shiro lower himself back to the ground while they waited. She stood over him like before, tactfully blocking out as much sun as she could without being too obvious about it. Shiro noticed, of course, but he was thankful. The shade and a water break helped him regain some of the awareness he’d lost earlier. He sat cross-legged on the sand. His eyelids drooped. Surely it would have been midnight if this was Earth. They’d been here too long for it to be anything but. Yet the sun was still far from setting, even if it was slowly heading that way.

He stifled a yawn. “If the sand wasn’t going to burn my skin off, I’d lay down and fall asleep.”

Allura glanced at him. “I’m not sure that would be a good idea even if the sand _wasn’t_ scorching hot.”

“Hm. It’d probably—” he cut off.

A slight tremble rippled through the sand. Then it stopped.

He glanced at Allura. “Did you feel that?”

“I don’t think so. What did it feel like?”

“Like…” he trailed off, unsure of how to describe it, and then there came a shout from the distance.

“Guys!” Keith came jogging—what was he _thinking_?—back down the hill. “I found a shortcut to the other side of this dune!” He reached them and slung Shiro’s prosthetic over his shoulder, carefully avoiding the exposed metal. “We’re finally getting to _my_ kind of territory,” he grinned, glancing at Shiro with a spark of hope in his eyes. Shiro found himself weakly smiling back. Maybe they would make it through this after all.

“Oh? And your kind of territory is a nice one, I hope?” Allura pulled Shiro’s natural arm back over her shoulder, and when he stood once more they remained at his side.

“Eh, jury’s out on that one,” Shiro tried to joke, before belatedly realizing Allura probably didn’t even know what a jury was. Keith grinned a little wider, though, and that made it worth it.

Keith steered them toward a little dip in the large dune. Moving was slower than it had been prior to Shiro passing out, but at least they were moving again and now had something to cling to.

“You can see for yourself,” Keith replied, and they rounded the bend. On the other side of the large dune stood a beautiful red-orange expanse of canyons.

Keith’s territory indeed.

“…Oh,” was all Allura said.

 

 

 

 

The canyons provided a bit of cover now that the planet’s sun was finally lower in the sky. Any shade at all was gladly welcomed, but Shiro especially felt the good effects. Thirty minutes or so into the canyons, and Shiro was able to carry more of his own weight. Keith and Allura could take turns helping him walk. They decided to use rock-paper-scissors as the deciding factor of who would take a break first, and after they’d explained the rules to Allura, she was a natural. Needless to say, she won, and Keith was forced to take the first break. (Shiro wasn’t sure how he felt about the winners having to help him-- it seemed more logical to have the prize be carrying the med kit, not _him_ , but they’d stubbornly insisted.) At least walking was easier in the canyons since the sand had been replaced with firm, reddish clay.

 

As they walked, Keith dropped back and lingered behind them. Shiro suspected he was guarding their flank. Had he felt that vibration in the ground earlier, too, or had something else set him on edge?

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro called out in a pant. Allura slowed and Keith immediately joined them. He also was looking more refreshed now that the sunlight wasn’t as direct.

“Yeah?” he said. “Need a water break?”

Shiro silently noticed how Allura’s ears perked at the suggestion. He felt bad. So instead of saying what he originally had in mind, he nodded. Allura’s shoulder muscles immediately released some of their tension, and she and Keith helped sit him down underneath a rocky overhang at the base of a canyon.

They went through their normal break routine—or it had been normal, until Keith put the water canteen back in the bag before taking a sip himself.

Shiro called him on it, but Keith shrugged it off.

“Nah, it’s fine. I got thirsty earlier and had some while you two were walking ahead of me. I’m good.”

Shiro scoffed. “Liar.”

Keith’s brow knit together. His hands clenched. “Look, we’re almost out, okay? _Satisfied_? I’m not _that_ thirsty yet. You’d do the same—for all I know, you’ve been pretending this whole time. Maybe that’s why you collapsed first. Because you were being the _stupid_ leader that always pulls the _stupid_ stunts like you think we won’t notice. You can’t give _me_ flak about it, Shiro. I learned it from _you_.”

Shiro squeezed his lips together and remained silent. Keith stood up with a huff and began to storm away, back in the direction they’d come.

Allura, who’d been quietly watching the exchange, glanced between them. “Keith, we need to stay togeth—”

“I’m _just_ going to get a cactus I saw earlier,” he interrupted, not even looking at her. “Back later.”

Allura bit her lip and slouched a little. She didn’t follow him.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Keith disappeared around the bend. Eventually, Allura spoke in a soft voice, “ _Have_ you been depriving yourself of water?” She met his eyes.

“Not any more than needed,” Shiro said honestly. It didn’t seem to soothe Allura’s concern. Perhaps he should’ve worded it differently.

Shiro crossed his arms and laid back against the canyon wall. Sweat dripped down into his eyes. He wiped at his face, feeling the sandy grime rub against his skin. His stomach continued to churn sickly. His head pounded. He forced his eyes to stay open.

Allura sighed deeply, as if resigned to his answers. “How are you feeling?”

Shiro opened his mouth.

“—the truth,” she added.

He took a breath and mentally evaluated himself, trying to be honest without causing unnecessary concern. They all felt terrible; how was he any different? He’d just succumbed first, which made them think he was sicker than they surely were.

His stomach twisted with a flash of nausea. He buried his grimace and swallowed before answering. “I’m tired, but I’ll live.”

“Mmh,” Allura hummed, noncommittal. Her hair was a tangled mess, loose curls framing her face and her bun falling down. She looked so worn out.

There was no breeze in the canyons. It was boiling even in the shade of the overhang. Idly he wondered if Keith had found any cacti to beat up.

For the slightest moment, his stomach settled just enough for him to feel like he could actually rest. His eyes seemed to drift shut of their own accord.

 

 

A rumble vibrated through the rocky ground. Shiro opened his eyes. Allura was getting to her feet. “Did you feel that?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, that’s what I felt earlier.” He moved to stand, but dizziness knocked him back down. His stomach flopped unhappily.

“I think we should go find Keith,” Allura said quietly, continuing to keep an eye on their surroundings. She reached down to help him up—boy, this was getting old quick—and they began to retrace their footsteps from earlier that day, going back the way Keith had. Shiro wished he could walk on his own.

They started to reach sandy soil again before Allura stopped. Shiro looked around, careful not to make his head spin too much. The dunes stood tall and unwelcoming in front of them, and the canyons were behind. Keith was nowhere to be seen, and neither were any cacti.

“I would call for him,” Allura whispered, “but I fear that may not be wise.” She peered over her free shoulder, behind them.

Suddenly a crab-like creature the size of a couch morphed out of the rocks, coming striaght for them. Allura’s head whipped around at the scurrying noise, and she picked Shiro up like a rag doll and jumped out of the creature’s path. It stampeded past, came to a stop, and turned around. There were three scorpion-like tails whipping around above the crab’s head, each with a deadly-looking hook.

Allura set Shiro down beside a boulder— she even was kind enough to put him in the canyon’s shade— and placed herself in front of him, between him and the creature. Shiro’s back was to the canyon wall; Allura probably hoped it would protect him while she guarded his front.

She reached down to her side, mid-thigh, just where the top of her leg armor would be— had she been wearing it— for her bayard. Her hand gripped thin air. It didn’t materialize because they’d left their unusuable armor with the lions.

The creature rushed toward her. She was unarmed. Shiro scrambled ungracefully to his feet, barely caught his balance, and jumped in front of her with his prosthetic activated. The purple glow sliced through the creature’s torso, splitting it in half. A sickly yellow liquid splattered everywhere like blood. His prosthetic turned off almost immediately and he panted hard. How could one strike drain him so?

Allura whirled on him. “Shiro! Why did you do that? I had it under control; you can’t fight in this heat.”

Shiro leaned over, out of breath. “I just saved your life, and you’re giving me a hard time?”

“If you die, Keith will kill me. And yes, believe it or not, Shiro, we _do_ care about you. You need to let _us_ help _you_ for once.”

“You help me all the time,” he said, and tried to focus on her face. It was a little blurry for some reason. Probably just sweat in his eye.

She looked worried. “You need to sit down. Come o—oh no,” Allura’s eyes widened as she stared behind him. She grabbed his shoulders and fell to the side, pulling them both to the ground. A larger crab scuttled past, faster and angrier this time. Allura jumped to her feet and looked around for some kind of weapon. Shiro knew his arm was the best defense; he tried to get up.

Suddenly there were two gigantic claws around his arms, and he was staring up into the dark silhouette of the beast. It opened its mouth, revealing two jagged sets of teeth. It plunged down. Shiro crunched his body into a ball, pulling his knees up to block its mouth from his face. He could feel the teeth begin to sink into the tough fabric of the flight suit, but before it pierced his flesh, Allura grunted and hurled a rock at the creature, knocking it off him.

“Are you all right?” Allura called. He rolled over to his hands and knees and glanced at her. It looked like there were two of her. His vision was wobbling. Blinking did nothing to fix it. Wait, were there three of her now?

Nope, the third blurry shape was another crab— where did they all come from?— and it was racing toward Allura from behind. He barely managed to call out a warning.

She turned and instinctively raised her hands to block, but she was weaponless and didn’t have time to move. The alien’s hooked tail lunged forward.

The talon was sliced off at the trunk mid-strike. The tail fell, limp. The creature screamed and raised its smaller claws to stirke Allura’s legs. It had given her enough time to jump out of the way, and the creature missed. Shiro saw Keith standing behind it, his Marmora sword in hand, the yellow goo dripping from the edge of its blade.

The crab was hurtling toward Shiro again. He less-than-gracefully rolled to his side, just barely dodging the attack. The crab ran straight into a boulder. There was a loud _crack_ as the force pierced its hide, and the creature stilled. The yellow liquid slowly oozed out of its back.

Shiro stared at the carcass— why he stared, and didn’t go _do_ _something about it_ , he didn’t know— and eventually his ears registered the sounds of Keith and Allura fighting the other creatures behind him. It shouldn’t have taken him this long to realize the fight wasn’t over.

He knew he was out of it, that this wasn’t a good sign, but really, what could he do?

He pushed himself to his feet and leaned against the canyon wall for support as he tried to examine the fight. It was hard to get his eyes to focus with all the chaos, and his brain felt fuzzy.

Keith had kept his Marmora blade unsheathed, which was good, because then they at least had two weapons instead of just his Galra arm between the three of the paladins. A very _taxing_ Galra arm, at that.

Four more of the crab-scorpion-creatures had appeared and were attacking Allura and Keith from various directions. Allura used her wits and her strength to make up for lack of a weapon. She threw boulders at the creatures, strategically dodged their attacks so they hit the canyon wall, and sometimes threw the creatures Keith finished off at the others.

The jumble of movement was both mesmerizing and dizzying. The ground rumbled, but he barely registered it.

Out of the corner of his eye, the dune shifted and morphed into yet another beast. Shiro didn’t have time to duck before it launched itself at him. He was only saved by Allura throwing a dead creature at it to knock it off-course. Shiro looked back at Keith and Allura.

“Go!” she shouted. “Get back to the canyons, we’ll meet you there!”

 

 

Shiro pointed. “Behind you!”

Allura threw herself to the side. Keith jumped in her place and braced for impact, sword in hand. The creature impaled itself and knocked him over. Allura was back on her feet and running toward him. He was pinned underneath the large, dying creature. Shiro wanted to run over too, but if he tried, he knew he would fall over. He resigned himself to an uneasy, fast walk.

By the time he reached them, Allura was already trying to lift the creature off Keith, but for some reason she was having difficulty. Normally she would be able to lift things the size of a couch by herself, no problem. It was odd.

“Need some help?” Shiro asked. Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the yellow-splaftered abdomen and pulled it up. With his cybernetic arm and Allura’s (oddly subdued?) natural strength, they easily pulled it off of Keith. Thankfully he’d fallen into a little ledge near the canyon floor, so that when the creature fell on top, it didn’t crush him, only pinned him down.

Keith sat up and spat. He tried to wipe his face off, but he ended up only smearing more yellow goo all over him. “That thing’s blood is _disgusting_.”

Allura heartily agreed.

 _Oh_. So _that_ was why she was coated with an unusual amount of sand. She was covered with goo, as weel, making the sand stick to her. She was obviously trying to avoid looking at herself or acknowledging her own condition. Shiro didn’t blame her in the slightest.

That’s when he noticed her arm.

“You’re bleeding,” he said, ignoring the urge to sit down. Why was his head so foggy?

Keith was attempting to brush himself off as he stood, but he looked at her too. Allura glanced down at the cut. “It’s just a scratch. We have bigger matters at hand.”

“That’s from when I cut off the talon, isn’t it?” Keith asked. “Do you think it was poisoned?”

“I doubt it.” She shook her head and blew a strand of slime-covered hair out of her face. “I feel fine. Well, considering the circumstances, at least. But is difficult, if not impossible, to poison an Altean of the royal lineage. My grandfather made sure of that.”

Shiro tried to listen, but nausea coiled in his gut like an angry snake. He attempted to cross his arms over his chest with an air of nonchalance to put pressure on his stomach, hoping to relieve some of the twisting ache.

Keith’s eyes flew wide. For a moment, Shiro was afraid that he’d noticed.

“Oh no,” he said, looking at the ground. “Where’s the canister?”

Allura glanced at their surroundings. “You took it with you to fill with water from the cactus, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but I had it with me when I heard the commotion and hurried back. I must’ve dropped it without thinking during the fight.” They began to search around the dead creatures.

Shiro struggled to think as he watched them. There was something else missing, something on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t remember it. _C’mon, Shiro, think_.

Allura was kneeling by a boulder when she sighed. “I found something else we lost during the skirmish,” she said, and held up the emergency kit.

_That was it._

The case had been trampled over at least once. It was dented and dirty, and the clapse was broken.The contents were in pieces and scattered around the site.

“While some of them fought us, the others must have found our food,” Allura said with dismay. She sifted through the remains. “All of our rations are gone. The medical supplies are damaged, some were torn open and are now useless to us. They even broke the vlaxyur.”

Shiro surveyed the scene, panting though he hadn’t really helped fight. For some reason the air felt thicker over here, harder to breathe. The sun continued to beat down on his neck. He glanced around from where he stood, trying to help look while retaining as much energy as possible. He spotted something metallic half-buried in sand.

“Hey, Keith,” he said, carefully getting down on his knees, “I think I found the canister.”

Keith looked up, but the hope in his eyes was dashed as Shiro held up the dented metal. It was cracked, and when he turned it over, only sand came out. Keith’s shoulders sagged as he came to Shiro’s side to inspect it further.

“That was the only water I could find,” he said quietly.

Shiro didn’t know what to say. Normally, he’d be able to dredge up some encouraging words, but his head was too foggy and he felt too drained to think of anything. The two just sat there on the sand, in silence.

A few seconds later, Allura joined them. She held up the remains of the kit. “I managed to salvage a few unsoiled bandages and a small vial of antiseptic.” Her eyes found the canister in Shiro’s hand. “Is that…?” she trailed off, realization dawning. There was a fleeting look of dispair, but then a determined expression set her shoulders back and her chin high.

“We can still make it,” she said, the hard edge of a queen in her voice. She made eye contact with first Shiro and then Keith, individually. “Do _not_ give up hope. We will keep fighting. The day is not over yet.” And with that, she gave the broken kit to Keith. She took Shiro’s arm and slung it over her shoulder as usual and gave him the strength to stand.

“Keith,” she said, “you said that this was your territory. How should we proceed?”

Her faith in him rekindled the fire in his eyes. His determination burned, and together, his and Allura’s fiery passion broke through the doubtful haze shrouding Shiro’s mind. Their fire burned the fog in his own determination and gave him courage.

Keith wiped his sword off best he could on some of the dirty, unusable bandages, and it shrunk down to knife-size. He sheathed it.Then he glanced from Allura to Shiro to the broken medkit in his hands.

“The garrison taught us the rule of three,” he said, shifting the kit to one hand and pulling Shiro’s other arm over his shoulder as well. “Humans can live three weeks without food, three days without water, and three hours without shelter in a harsh environment. Also.”

“Well, I’d say this constitues as ‘harsh,’” Shiro said, making a poor attempt at humor. And he knew that they hd been out here a lot longer than three hours.

Keith raised a brow, as if to say, _Seriously?_ and continued. “Humans can also stay alive for three minutes without air, although it could cause brain damage, but thankfully that one is irrelevant right now.”

“Why would they call it the rule of three, and then have four different circumstances?” Allura asked.

Keith lifted his fingers—he couldn’t lift his hands without dropping Shiro— in an “ _I know, right?!_ ” fashion. “Exactly! It drives me crazy!”

The corner of Shiro’s mouth quirked up at that. He remembered Keith’s rants about the Threes. “Find shelter, then?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go back to where we were earlier, maybe we can find a cave or two like how we found the Blue Lion.”

The trio began walking, and Allura cocked her head. “You found the Blue Lion in a _cave_?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Blaytz, the original Blue Paladin, was always fond of pampering his lion like royalty. It surprises me, that’s all.”

“It was a nice cave,” Shiro offered. “Had a nice, tall waterfall that we became well aquainted with.”

Keith chuckled before a wicked grin took over his face. “Lance screamed.”

“Heh, I think we all did.”

“He screamed the loudest, though.”

“True.”

“When he tried to open the Blue Lion’s barrier for the first time,” Shiro grinned, “I almost thought he was going to try, ‘Open Sesame.’”

Allura smiled too, even if she didn’t get the joke. Her tired eyes glinted with bemused humor. “Humans still perplex me.”

Keith raised his brows. “Yeah, believe me—I know.”

“Hey,” Shiro protested half-heartedly. “You’re still at least _part_ -human! Don’t treat me like _I’m_ the only ‘Earthling’ here.”

“You still make zero sense sometimes, dude.”

“I’m not the one who tried to take down Zarkon all by himself and, as such, almost ended up as a red-colored crater on his ship.”

“That _was_ quite foolish,” Allura cut in.

“Fine, it was pretty stupid. But what if that was the human side of me since it didn’t make sense?”

Shiro felt an odd chill sweep over him. It wasn’t refreshing. “I’m pretty sure aliens are the ones that aren’t supposed to make sense. No offense, Allura.”

“No, I fully agree with that statement. By definition, you are also an alien.” She laughed softly. “And we are _all_ aliens on this planet.”

Shiro opened his mouth to say something else, but a flash of nausea gripped his stomach and his legs gave out, pulling Allura and Keith down with him.

“Shiro? Are you okay?” Keith gripped his prosthetic.

“I’m—”he squeezed his lips together as bile rose in his throat. His stomach swirled, and his head felt heavy. He struggled to get his arms free from their shoulders. He was going to throw up.

Thankfully they let go of his arms once he started struggling, just in time for him to keel over. They politely gave him some space as his stomach tried to turn inside out.

Eventually he was only dry heaving, having thrown up what little was left in his stomach, but his body continued to convulse like it believed it wasn’t finished. When the heaving stopped, Shiro was out of breath and his throat was raw.He spat a few times to try to get the nasty taste out of his mouth.

“I would offer you some water, but…” Keith trailed off with a helpless shrug. “I’m sorry.”

Shiro shook his head. “Not your fault.” He spat again.

Allura pursed her lips. “This isn’t the ‘heat stroke’ you were referring to earlier, is it, Keith?”

Shiro wiped his mouth off on a sleeve. “I sure hope not.”

Keith considered, glancing at the canyon walls around them. “No. His symptoms are different.”

“‘Heat exhaustion,’ then?” Allura tried.

“I used to think so, but… not everything matches up.”

Shiro didn’t bother lifting his head. He was too tired. “Is it another one of your gut-feelings?”

“Yeah.” Keith looked back at Shiro. “I think something else is affecting you, and I think it might go into what we were just joking about.”

“What do you mean?” Allura said. “Has he been poisoned somehow?”

“I didn’t get hit by one of those scorpion-creatures,” Shiro went ahead and answered. “Honest.”

“Well, _good_ ,” Keith said, making a face that said he definitely wasn’t over their earlier conversation. He continued, “But I think something _else_ on this planet must affect only humans. I don’t know what, or why, but I’ve been feeling a little sick, too.”

Allura looked at him. “I see what you mean. You’re only partially human, so perhaps you aren’t affected as much as Shiro, who is completely human.”

“As far as you know,” Shiro tried to tease. “I might just not have met _my_ Blade of Marmora yet.”

Keith deadpanned. Shiro attempted a half-grin at him, and then proceeded to put an arm around his stomach as it churned again.

“I think I might see a crevice large enough to rest in, up ahead,” Allura said. “It might provide some shelter.”

Shiro didn’t bother trying to stand, or even attempting to look. Instead, he stared at the rocky ground beneath his knees and tried to ignore the vomit splattered in front of him. His jaw clenched. He hated being so sick and weak.

“Let’s try it,” Keith said. “Shiro? Are you up to walking?”

He gave his consent even though his stomach was still very unhappy. They each took an arm and lifted him off the ground. Once he was on his feet, and after the dizziness had passed, he was able to take most of his own weight again, and they started toward whatever “crevice” Allura had found. Shiro kept his eyes trained on the uneven ground to watch his footing.

 

 

They walked the hundred yards or so in shade. Shiro slowed them down and he hated it, but Allura and Keith would never admit it. They were unrelentingly hard-headed.

They reached the area eventually. It took so much longer than it should have that Shiro was definitely considering telling them to go check it out first— to make sure it was actually usable before they spent all that time and energy on nothing. But they reached it, and it turned out that Allura was right—the spot was nothing more than a huge crack in the canyon wall. It was maybe two feet across at the widest section.

“Um...” Keith grimaced. “Allura, I don’t think this is going to work.”

“Why not?”

Shiro raised his brows. “It isn’t big enough for one person to fit, let alone three.”

“Oh!” Allura said. “You thought—I wasn’t talking about staying inside _this_ part.” She laughed. “That would be rather tight. No, what I meant was, the caves on Altea always had entrances like this; you would have to walk sideways to enter, but once inside, they were quite spacious. I presume Earth caves are not the same?”

“Eh, sometimes,” Keith said. “But even if it is like that, how are we going to get Shiro inside? We’re too wide, carrying him like this.”

“I can walk,” Shiro said.

Keith’s expression said he doubted it. “And even if you could, how can we be sure it leads to a cave?”

Shiro internally shuddered at the thought of getting stuck in there if it led to nothing.

“I’ll go in first and investigate,” Allura offered. “Besides, I have the least chance of having trouble.”

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but soon realized she had a point. Her ability to change her size would definitely be an advantage. Allura slid into the crevice and began to shimmy her way inside. She made it look easy.

Eager to demonstrate he was still capable of indepence, Shiro slowly took back his own bodyweight until he was simply standing with his arm resting on Keith’s shoulder. The latter noticed.

“Stop trying to prove you’re okay when you clearly aren’t.”

“I’m feeling better now.” True, even if the “better” was only slight.

Keith suddenly let go of his arm and stopped supporting him. Shiro wavered only a little before regaining his balance. He stood on his own and smiled. “See?”

Keith crossed his arms with a quiet _humph_. “Fine. But I’m going right behind you in case you fall again.”

Shiro hated being babysat, but he consented.

While waiting, they leaned against the canyon beside the crevice and enjoyed the shade. It felt like it was at least five degrees cooler, and they were thankful. Still no breeze, though, which Shiro missed. Some kind of small gnat buzzed around his head briefly before getting bored and deciding to annoy Keith instead. Bad choice. It had a quick death.

“Can you hear me?” Allura’s voice echoed from deep within the crevice. “Hello?”

Keith straightened. “Yeah, we hear you.”

“I reached the cave. I think, if you are careful, you can make it inside. Just do not look down.”

“Why?”

“The crack is long and varies in width throughout the path. If either of you fell near the deepest section, I doubt you would fare well.”

Keith and Shiro glanced at each other.

“I can do it.”

“Shiro, this is no time to be playing macho.”

“I’m serious, Keith. I’ll press against the walls if I need to keep my balance. Okay? And I really am feeling a little better now.”

Keith took a deep breath. He weighed their options.

“Okay,” he said, letting out a whoosh of air. “I’m trusting you. Allura, we’re coming in.”

And so began their precarious squeeze through the canyon’s depths. It was incredibly tight in some places—so tight that Shiro consciously had to fight off his claustrophobia—and in others, it was so wide that Shiro couldn’t reach both walls if he laid out flat between them. True to his word, Keith was behind him the entire time, and though Shiro mostly made it through the space on his own, there were a few heart-stopping moments where he almost fell.

Allura was right; the crevice was long _and_ deep. Enough light flickered in from behind them, outside, to let them pick out their footing, but it was steadily getting darker. Shiro began to fear he’d miss a step. He hadn’t realized how much light their paladin armor had provided until now, without it.

Finally Shiro stepped into the open expanse of the cave. Right off the bat, he was shocked to see that the walls were glowing and casting a blue light over Allura. Keith stepped through behind him a moment later.

“I’m glad you made it.” Allura looked with surprise at Shiro, who was still standing on his own. “You’re looking better. Perhaps it was only the heat.”

“Perhaps.” Shiro didn’t think so. He still felt pretty sick, even if the caves were cooler.

“Come,” Allura beckoned them, “I’ve located something I think you will like.”

“Please tell me it isn’t a giant glow-worm,” Keith said with a shudder. “I hate those things.”

Allura gave him a bemused look as she led the way. “Keith, you are definitely a bit human. I haven’t the slightest idea what a glow-worm is or why it would be helpful to show you one.”

Keith turned a little green—or was it red, since everything looked bluer in here?—and said, “Never mind.”

Shiro chuckled. “I still don’t get why you don’t like glow-worms. I think they’re neat.”

“They’re just… weird.”

Allura stopped and gestured ahead of them. “What do you think?”

There, in front of them, underneath the glowing rocks of the cavern ceiling, was a small pool of sparkling blue water. A stalactite released water droplets into the pool. Around the water’s circumference were patches of green moss; it looked so soft, and the air was so cool, that it was like a cavern oasis. The pleasant sound of dripping water almost beckoned him. His exhaustion seemed to physically weigh him down.

“Woah,” Keith said. Apparently it had the same effect on him. Allura beamed.

Shiro walked over to the pool and plopped down on the soft moss. Immediately a yawn came over him. Keith knelt by the pool and cupped his hands to drink.

“Now I wish we’d kept the canister,” he said, an actual smile in his voice. “Man, this is good.”

Shiro’s thirst overpowered his exhaustion, and he joined Keith by the water’s edge. They drank and drank until their stomachs felt like they would burst. Even then, their dry mouths ached for more. Shiro couldn’t get enough. Keith jumped right in, the spray soaking Shiro. Allura laughed. Shiro splashed him back and started a water war. All three were laughing and splashing and attacking each other good-naturedly. It felt good. _Really_ good.

By the time they crawled back onto the mossy shore, Allura’s hair looked like a soaked mop, Keith’s dark mullet stuck to his neck like a mane, and Shiro’s white tuft of hair clung to his forehead and wouldn’t stop dripping water into his eyes. Their flight suits felt more like wetsuits now, but at least they were finally clean of the desert’s sandy grime. Shiro was ready to sack out.

Allura found herself a comfortable spot to lay down on the moss, while Keith and Shiro plopped down on the opposite side of the pool. Keith exhaled loudly, tired and content. Shiro appreciated the sentiment.

Soon the trio’s quiet breaths evened out, and they succombed to some much-needed rest.

 

 

With a heavy reluctance, Shiro aroused some time later, needing to relieve himself. He slowly clambered to his feet, fought off the normal bout of dizziness, and quietly left the group to find a suitable area. Drowsiness clung to his mind like Earth’s morning dew.

By the time he’d finished and started his way back, hunger pains were beginning to ward off the remaining haze in his mind. With disappointment, he remembered that their rations had been eaten by the desert alien-scorpions. At least they had water.

Shiro stopped and blinked. Their cave was different than he remembered. Had the pool grown? He didn’t rememember there being more than one, either. And where were Keith and Allura?

Belatedly it dawned on him that this wasn’t the right cave. He chuckled at himself and turned around to retrace his footsteps.

Except… that wasn’t familiar, either. He looked back at the cavern filled with numerous pools. Which way had he come?

Shiro huffed with irritation. How could he have been so foolish? He hadn’t even left any markers on his way out, or left any indication of which way he’d gone for the others to find him. Well, maybe if he just kept walking in one direction, he’d recognize something. Because the larger cave was better lit and more inviting than the dark tunnel behind him, he chose that direction and began to traverse the edge of the cavern.

The room was larger than he’d thought it was. When he finally reached the other side, to his dismay, there were several more exits available, not just one like he’d thought. Was his eyesight going bad?

He chose the opening on the far left. After a few minutes, he saw that it was a dead end and made his way back.

He tried the second opening. This tunnel was a lot longer. After what felt like an hour of trekking and still no sign of any result, he began to consider turning around when something moved out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks, watching, waiting.

He didn’t see anything else, nor did anything attack him. He moved on, ears attentive and muscles taut. This tunnel was also a dead end. He sighed and turned around, stumbling out to the larger cave. Exhaustion pulled at him.

 

 

Shiro plopped down by one of the pools, his legs eager to rest even though he hadn’t walked very far. His eyelids grew heavy. He blinked rapidly to stay awake, to keep his guard up. But it was growing more difficult by the second.

He leaned back on his hands as he sat there, staring up at the cavern ceiling. Glowing blue stones speckled the rocks like stars in the night sky. _I wish there was a breeze._ He glanced down at the pool beside him and wondered if it had grown murky or if that was just the way it appeared after looking at such a bright, beautiful ceiling. Probably was. He was just on edge. That was all.

Something launched out of the water and grabbed his left arm. It yanked him underwater before he could blink.

A blur of bubbles escaped his mouth in surprise. He clamped his mouth shut before he lost more air. Whatever had grabbed him was pulling him deeper and deeper. His ears began to hurt. His brain scrambled to catch up. He thrashed against his captor.

He opened his eyes under the water. The blue light from the surface was fading rapidly. The thing grabbing his arm was like an octopus’ tentacle with the strength of an anaconda. The water got darker as he was pulled into the depths. He hadn’t realized the little pool was this deep.

Finally his mind snapped into reaction. He powered up his Galra hand and swiped at the creature’s tentacle. A direct blow. His human arm was free, but a swirl of dark purple puffed up into the waters around him. Soon it would block out the surface’s light and leave him underwater, blind.

With powerful strokes, he swam toward the surface. His lungs were burning. He was almost there.


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro's head broke the surface with a splash. He gasped for air, blinking past the water in his eyes to find land. He propelled himself toward it. _Faster, faster, faster,_ his mind screamed.

Reaching the rocky border, he grabbed it and grappled himself out of the water without hesitation. He jumped to his feet, almost falling over from the quick onslaught of dizziness as he stumbled away from the pool’s edge. He glanced behind him, panting for breath, hoping beyond hope that the creature was strictly aquatic.

He waited, one hand on a knee and the other pushing his wet, drooping bangs out of his eyes. He glanced at the walls and noticed this wasn’t the same cavern. This one was far larger, big enough to fit a moderate-sized, two-story house inside. There was only one huge pool, so big it was almost a miniature lake, and the ceiling wasn’t as bright or smooth as the other caves’. It was rockier, with jagged stalactites dripping down like the teeth of a shark. There was only one exit to this room, he noticed, and it was on the opposite side of the large pool.

Shiro glanced at the water again, making sure nothing was going to jump out and grab him, before running at an awkward walk-jog-stumble pace around the water, toward the exit. He had almost reached it when the cave’s sparse blue light glinted off something blocking the tunnel exit. He stopped in his tracks.

Silvery blue strings, so thin that they were almost invisible, flickered in the light of the cave.

Were those… webs?

No, surely not. They were too far away from Earth for it to be anything even remotely similar.

There was a tiny _sploosh_ behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and gasped.

A creature the size of a truck towered above him. More than a dozen hairy legs held it high off the ground, dripping wet. Under its abdomen, eight long, fleshy-pink tentacles wiggled about like hungry snakes. The ninth was short, its bleeding stub hanging useless. It looked like a monstrous, crazy alien spider out of some old science-fiction movie. And it was angry, or hungry— or probably both.

Now was the _worst_ possible time to be lost, alone, and sick. He really must have bad luck.

Shiro activated his Galra hand. A surge of energy washed through him, strangely, but he waited.

It attacked.

He rolled at the last minute, ducking underneath the monster without realizing that his normal technique wouldn’t work. The octo-spider’s tentacles grabbed him, and as he reached back to thrust a blow to the creature’s belly, it leaped.

He was yanked up as it flipped midair and attached to the ceiling upside-down. His surprise jostled his concentration, and his prosthetic deactivated. The tentacles held him up and rolled him in their grasp, expertly encasing his body in a white-ish, sticky slime. Below him, the creature’s stomach opened into a circular mouth. Rows of needle-like teeth spun around the circle’s edges in opposing directions. Three long, purple tongues rose from the mouth and tasted the air beneath him. Then they stretched up, right toward his face.

Without a second to lose, he lit up his arm again—the strange pulse of energy striking through him stronger this time— and hit as many of the tentacles as he could reach. The creature shrieked and released him. He dropped right towards its open mouth. He caught himself from falling in, barely, by grabbing the edges and holding himself up above the squirming tongues. He stared down into its mouth, the whirling vortex of razor-sharp teeth zipping in circles so fast he could hardly see them. The creature bucked and swerved, crawling down a wall with dizzying speed, trying to shake him off.

Shiro lost his grip and hit the ground sideways. He heard his collarbone pop, and his shoulder flared. He pushed himself to his knees, but something felt wrong. Had he broken something? He didn’t feel like he had, but his adrenaline could be hiding it. And why were his hands so hard to move?

The creature was scurrying down the rest of the way to meet—eat—him.

He pulled himself to his feet and dragged his tired legs into a run. His head swam with the sudden motion and he fought not to stumble or slow down. The exit was close. He was getting closer.

A burst of pain shot through the back of his leg. He cried out and tripped, landing hard on the cave floor. His chin scraped against rock as he was yanked backwards along the ground. The octo-spider had sunk its head’s fangs into his leg. Why this alien had two mouths, he didn’t have time to guess. It dragged him toward the wall farthest from the exit, and he watched helpless as the tunnel to freedom shrunk in the distance.

The spider reached the wall and began to climb up backwards, hungry and eager. Shiro dangled beneath it and tried to reactivate his Galra hand. It took a few frightening ticks, but when it finally glowed, he could barely move his arm. Had the spider’s icky saliva paralyzed him? He could still feel, could try to move, but it was like his limbs had hardened.

The octo-spider reached the cavern ceiling. All the blood rushed to his head as he hung upside-down from the monster’s fangs. A trickle of red dripped down the side of his leg. Far below was the blue pool, peaceful and still. The creature busily settled itself on the ceiling rocks, and Shiro could do nothing to stop it from beginning its feast. Even if he could move to strike, he didn’t fancy falling onto the rocks from this height and breaking his neck. Although that would be a quicker death than getting eaten alive.

Three hairy spider legs poked and clawed at his flight suit, picking him up by the fabric around his waist. He couldn’t move his arms at all now. As soon as the thing let go of his leg, he aimed for all its sensitive, fleshy-looking spots and kicked as hard as he could. His legs were beginning to feel the effects of that slime too. Every kick grew more difficult.

He managed to land a blow or two, but nothing was damaging enough for it to drop him. Soon the spider’s legs left him at the mercy of its tentacles. They wrapped around his hands first, and he could feel the warm, slimey flesh trembling with excitement. The spider’s legs lowered him further, and more tentacles gripped his waist. Its stomach-mouth gaped below, teeth rotating faster than a tornado.

As he was pulled within reach, one of its ugly tongues flicked up and slid across his cheek like wet sandpaper. He jerked away and struggled harder, but the tentacles only tightened their crushing grip. He couldn’t get away. One of the other tongues grabbed his right arm and pulled it down.

There was a sharp grinding sound and Shiro yelled in pain. He twisted to protect his face as sparks flew everywhere. The monster’s teeth graded against the metal of his hand, the sound deafening and the sensation numbing.

He barely heard it when a familiar whistle filled the air. There was a blur, and a loud _thwip_ , and the creature screamed. Purple blood showered down on him, and the wet tentacles gripped him tighter in its pain. He caught a glimpse of a Marmora blade stuck in the spider’s hide. But the fledgling of hope that had sparked at the sight was quickly squelched.

The two remaining tongues latched onto his throat in a desperate last-attempt at survival, cutting off his airway, pulling his face ever closer to the cyclone of teeth. Keith’s blade had slowed the creature, but it wasn’t dying fast enough. Shiro activated his prosthetic.

The creature shuddered, its teeth grinding to a halt around his glowing right arm. Purple blood gurgled and spewed out its mouth.

It fell.

The air whooshed past, spraying droplets of dark liquid all over him. The ceiling grew distant. If he wasn’t hurtling to his death in the clutches of a gigantic alien arachnid, he would’ve enjoyed the rush of air and the feeling of weightlessness.

The creature’s long, hairy legs trembled and caved in over its abdomen. They curled up and inward, like a dying spider from Earth, trapping him against its disgusting flesh. Its tentacles held him in a vice-like grip, and the two tongues had not let go of his throat.

They hit the water.

The cold slapped him in the face as they crashed beneath the surface. He gasped, and water filled his mouth—but it didn’t rush into his lungs. The spider’s grip on his throat blocked any passage.

The creature’s deadweight dragged them both deep underwater. Thousands of bubbles floated to the surface far above, glinting in the water like tiny flying stars. The only sound was his heartbeat pounding in his head from the pressure and lack of air. He squirmed and kicked, but even dead, the thing would not release him. His arms were still locked in the tentacles. His feet were free but could not reach the spider’s legs trapping him like prison bars. He could feel the dull ache in his lungs growing. He could only live without air for so long.

They hit the bottom. Shiro struggled, but it was useless.

Distantly, there was a muffled splash as something broke the surface. He tried to see, but the spider’s legs had trapped him like thick, hairy prison bars, inhibiting his view.

There was a _swish_ , and a glint of metal swiped through five of the legs at once. They separated and the tops slowly fell over, puffs of dark purple spewing out of the disjointed ligaments and dissipating in the water. A hand appeared out of the cloud and pushed through the leftover stubs.

It was Keith.

Hope reignited in Shiro’s mind, and he worked on moving his hands again. The water seemed to be slowly dissolving the spider’s saliva-shell around his limbs, but it wasn’t fast enough. His lungs began to burn.

Marmora knife in hand, Keith swam down and tugged at the tentacles around Shiro’s torso. They didn’t budge. Keith cut the exposed length underneath Shiro, and his freed torso began to float upward. Not great, since his head and hands were still stuck. Keith moved, using his hands more than his eyes to find Shiro’s anchor points. The water was murky with blood.

Keith found Shiro’s human arm wrapped in a fleshy tentacle and freed it before pushing back up to the surface for air. He was back at Shiro’s side so quick it didn’t seem like he’d had time to catch an actual breath.

He fingered the pair of tongues gripping Shiro’s throat. Keith met his eyes for a second—a silent question, seeking permission. _Can I cut it?_

Shiro nodded hastily. There wasn’t time to ask. His lungs were burning.

With careful precision, Keith slid the blade underneath the tongues. The cool metal was flat against Shiro’s neck. One mistake—one slight miscalculation or too much pressure on either edge—and it would slit his throat. But Shiro was only anxious about getting to the surface before he passed out, not about the blade. He trusted Keith.

In one expert motion, Keith sliced the two tongues without leaving a scratch. Immediately Shiro’s airway was free again, and he desperately fought the urge to gasp for air. He squeezed his lips together and clamped his jaw shut.

Keith’s brow furrowed when he realized Shiro wasn’t swimming toward the surface. Then he saw Shiro’s prosthetic buried deep inside the creature’s stomach-mouth, and a surprised spout of bubbles escaped his lips. He reached for Shiro’s shoulder and put his feet on the spider’s hairy, squishy stomach. He pulled.

Shiro felt more than heard the sharp scraping of teeth against metal. It pulled at the contact point of his human shoulder, like someone was trying to forcibly pull his arm off. It hurt.

But his lungs were on fire. He needed _air_.

Shiro grit his teeth and activated his prosthetic. All of his energy drained out of him at the same instant that Keith leveraged open the creature’s stomach-mouth with his blade. Keith grunted under the water and pulled harder.

His right arm scraped free.

Shiro deactivated it quickly, and Keith yanked his blade out of the octo-spider before taking Shiro’s arm and pushing off the creature’s belly toward the surface.

Keith swam like mad. Shiro kicked to help propel, doing the most he could. His lungs were screaming for oxygen. They were still at least ten feet below the surface. Keith could swim, he was trying hard, but he wasn’t a _strong_ swimmer by any means. Lance had bested everyone in the water training sessions by a landslide, with Keith always coming in last. (But hey, it was hard to get swimming experience if you’d lived in a desert all your life. Shiro didn’t fault him.) They both knew it was a miracle Keith had been able to help Shiro at all, much less get them both this far.

Shiro’s consciousness started to wobble. He remembered that his mouth was still full of water, and he blew it out with what little air he had left, hoping it would give him a little safety buffer in case his will slipped. He began to wonder if he might not make it.

Keith’s arm tightened around Shiro’s human wrist, as if he could read his best friend’s mind. As if to anchor his thoughts and remind him, _I’m not giving up on you, Shiro, but you can’t give up on yourself either_.

The surface rippled and glimmered above, tantalizingly close—but not close enough. Shiro tried to stop himself, but it happened too quickly. His subconscious took over and he inhaled.

Water clogged his airway.

He choked. Couldn’t get the water out.

Panic set in.

Immediately his mind, his lungs, everything screamed at him— _why_ had he given in, _they were almost there!_ —and not a moment after, Keith pushed Shiro’s head above the surface and he was choking and he still couldn’t breathe and Keith was yelling at him and dragging him through the water and his nose and throat and lungs were burning and…

 

The next thing Shiro knew, he was lying sideways on the rocks. His body shook with each violent cough. His bones ached as he gasped and spluttered and gulped down oxygen. His throat was raw.

As his breathing became easier, he opened his eyes. Keith half-sat, half-laid beside him, thick bangs clinging to his forehead and water dripping down his chin as he too panted for breath.

Shiro rolled over to lay on his back, letting exhaustion take him. He closed his eyes again and relished the feeling of his lungs expanding and contracting, of blissful air flowing in and out without restriction.

The two stayed like that, just breathing hard and enjoying the beautiful simplicity of being alive.

After a few minutes, Shiro summoned the strength to speak. “ _Never_ insult my arachnophobia again.”

When Keith didn’t reply right away, Shiro opened an eye to glance over.

Keith was looking at him, a single brow raised, his eyes glinting with a rarely-seen emotion. A tiny chuckle bubbled up from his lopsided grin. It was infectious.

“I promise,” Keith said, and his chuckle erupted into heart-warming laughter. Shiro laughed too; even if it hurt a little, it felt good. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had actually _laughed_.

“I can’t believe you almost got eaten by a giant spider!” Keith roared, bent over with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

“I can’t believe it almost drowned me!” Shiro echoed back, chest heaving with his own heavy chortles. “What spider _drowns_ _people_?”

Keith was laughing so hard that tears crowded in his eyes. “We must be really tired,” he said in between bouts of laughter. “This isn’t even funny!”

“Maybe the water was poisoned with laughing gas,” Shiro offered with a grin. “Er, laughing liquid.”

“Probably.” Keith chuckled and began to regain his breath for the second time in an hour. “Where were you even going?”

Shiro’s face heated up. “Um…”

A knowing expression settled on Keith’s features. “Oh.” He grinned again and shook his head. “Y’know, Shiro, you are the only person I know who can almost die from a taking a bathroom break.”

 

Shiro snorted at that. “I really do have the worst luck of anyone I’ve ever met.”

They rested a bit longer on the rocky shore, listening to the silence and enjoying the rest.

“Where’s Allura?” Shiro asked.

“We split up.”

“Oh. How did you find me? I have no idea where we are. These caves are tricky.” Shiro glanced back at the water, remembering. “I didn’t even walk into this one.”

“What?”

“I got lost and was taking a break in another cavern when that spider-thing jumped out of the water and grabbed me. It must have dragged me through some underwater caves, or something, because this one’s not the cave I took a break in. These pools must all be connected.”

Keith looked at the water and made a face. “Then we might not want to drink any more of it.”

Shiro laughed, but it turned into a cough. “Yeah…” He sat up carefully and made to stand. “We should probably go find Allura.”

Keith stood too, but he was faster. When Shiro put weight on his leg, a flash a pain shot through it. He couldn’t hide the wince before Keith caught it. “Okay, Shiro. Spill it. Where are you hurt?”

Shiro let out a long-suffering sigh and pointed to his calf.

“Yikes,” Keith muttered.  
  
Shiro twisted to look at it. His calf was slit open just below the back of his knee. The fabric from the suit was ripped, hanging open, and the area was dripping with dark red.

Keith knelt at his feet. “It bit you, huh? Hmm.” He fingered the torn fabric. “Yeah, we’re gonna need to slow the bleeding.”

“I’ll be okay,” Shiro said. “We need to find Allura and keep moving. Without that water supply, our time is running out. We need to hurry.”

Keith ignored him and continued inspecting the wound. “It looks pretty deep.” He used his knife to cut away some of the fabric. “This is too soiled.” He looked around for something else to use as a bandage.

Shiro grabbed part of the torn sleeve of his right arm. “What about this?”

Keith looked up. Something akin to regret passed over his face, as if he was blaming himself for Shiro’s arm getting half-digested, but the look was gone quickly. “That’ll work.” He cut off a strip and wrapped it tight around Shiro’s wound.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’re still at risk for infection, or whatever this planet’s equivalent of rabies is. I wish we had what’s left of the first aid, but I left it with Allura.” Keith stood. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Shiro took a step and barely caught himself from collapsing. Keith scoffed and tugged Shiro’s prosthetic over his shoulder. With Keith’s help, Shiro limped through the cavern and made it past the cavern exit. They’d been making progress through various caves when Keith stopped. Ahead of them were three tunnels, nearly identical in size, and Keith was studying them.

“Are we lost?” Shiro asked when they hadn’t moved for a full minute.

“No.”

Shiro waited as Keith continued to study their options in silence.

After a few more seconds—in an attempt to make Keith feel better—he said softly, “Well, they look the same to me.”

“Because you’re aliens, aren’t you?” came a strange voice. Shiro jumped. Keith went as taut as a pulled string. “And I’ll gamble you’re illegal ones, too.”

Keith turned, Shiro’s arm still across his shoulders. “Show yourself,” he snarled.

They just _had_ to be ambushed in a dark section of the tunnel. Of course.

While supporting Shiro with one arm, Keith slowly moved his free hand behind his back. The smooth, leathery feel of the hilt of his Marmora blade comforted him. There was a sense of security that came with that grip.

“There!” Shiro whispered, and the humanoid figure lunged at them from the shadows. Keith shoved Shiro out of the way just in time. His blade blocked the alien’s fist, but it didn’t injure his skin. Shiro watched from the sidelines.

“W-what?” Keith stuttered. “How…?”

The huge being grinned, wrapped his bare hands around the sword’s double edges, and yanked it out of Keith’s hand. He tossed it to the side.

“You are trespassing, _criminals_. But I am not a bad person, so I will give you one chance. Leave now, and I will let you live.”

Keith growled. “Fine. Point us in that direction.”

The alien’s unibrow furrowed. “Lost, are you?”

Keith bent down to reach for his knife. The muscular alien jumped behind him with surprising agility and wrapped his short, stout arms around Keith’s chest. He picked him up and squeezed. Keith squirmed and fought for air.

“Stop! You’re crushing him!” Shiro slowly managed to stand. “Please, release him. We’ll leave immediately, just let him go.”

The alien glanced at Shiro from the corner of his eye. He looked back at Keith. “No. I will let this one attone for both of your crimes. I suggest you leave before my patience runs short.”

Keith was wheezing for breath. Shiro caught his eye. They exchanged a quick, silent glance.

“Okay,” Shiro said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Just tell me which way is out.”

“You traitor!” Keith rasped. The alien tightened its grip on him and he grunted in pain.

The alien did not seem to be surprised by Shiro’s actions. “The third cave on your right. Follow it, and make sure to always take the left route.”

Shiro cocked his head. “And how do I know this isn’t a trap?”

The alien adjusted his grip on Keith, holding him tighter. Shiro heard Keith’s spine crack. He hoped it was just a flexibility thing and not an injury thing.

“I am _not_ a bad person,” the alien repeated, insistent. “Now go, before I summon my troupe.”

Shiro moved toward the tunnel that supposedly led outside, slowly moving around the big alien and Keith. He fought to hide his limp as he kept his eyes pinned on the stout being.

He reached the other side, where he would have to turn to exit the passage. He stopped.

Keith felt the alien’s grip loosen slightly in suspicion.

“Did you forget my instructions already?” The alien chuckled, his large huffs making his grip on Keith wobbly, alternatively tighter with his inhale and looser with his exhale. Keith sucked in a huge breath— so that, when the alien resumed its normal hold, he wouldn’t register that Keith could get lose with a single exhale.

“No,” Shiro said and turned. He put on the most formidable expression he could muster. “Did _you_ forget that you’re squeezing the life out of my best friend?”

_Corny, but it works,_ Keith thought with a grin.

With his prosthetic lit, Shiro ran straight for them.

“What are you doing!” The alien held Keith between him and the charging paladin like a body shield. “Idiot! I’ll hurt your friend!”

Shiro got enough momentum and jumped, running along the wall with his burning bright hand outstretched. At the last possible moment, Keith released his breath with a _whoosh_ and slipped out of the big alien’s grasp. He hit the ground and ducked into a crouch.

Almost in slow motion, Shiro’s lit hand swiped toward the alien’s now-exposed torso. Keith rolled out from under him.

Shiro felt something akin to a shock of electricity shoot through him. One second he was tensed and fired up, aiming directly for the alien’s breastplate armor so the strike would only stun him— the next second, all of the energy jolted out of him in a heartbeat.

His hand deactivated of its own volition. He could feel the wind in his ears slow as his body lost momentum. Gravity tugged him off-balance. His vision spun and his stomach knotted.

He fell off the wall and hit the rocks, rolling to a pitiful stop at the feet of their foe.

“Well. That was a failure,” the hulking alien said. “Wait, that robot arm—is it Galra?”

Shiro’s head swam. “Yeah,” he barely ground out. He tried to push himself up onto his elbows. Distantly he heard Keith yell his name. His body felt so heavy. His human arm trembled at the effort to hold himself up. His stomach coiled and rolled with nausea. Sweat dripped into his eyes. What was happening?

The alien grinned. He pulled out a large weapon that looked a bit like a taser and aimed it at Shiro. Without a word, he mashed the button. Keith didn’t have time to do anything but watch in fear.

A bright-purple light flashed from the weapon, and four grappling lines were flung out torward its target.

Shiro knew he was in the line of fire, but his limbs would not cooperate. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact.

A sharp, electric _clash_. The alien yelped in surprise.

“I have spoken with your leader and made a deal,” came a familiar voice. Shiro managed to lift his head. Even through his pain, he grinned with relief.

It was Allura. In her hands was Keith’s Marmora knife that he’d dropped earlier. On the ground lay the four grappeling lines, cut off and disconnected from the gun. She’d saved him.

“Allura, what’re you—,” Keith broke off.

“I am an Altean,” Allura continued. Shiro heard the alien suck in a breath. “Your leader, Kinek, has ordered you to lay down your weapons and escort my comrades and I to your base. Immediately.”

The alien grunted, deep and unhappy. “This way.” The being’s heavy footsteps thudded past Shiro’s head as he walked toward the three tunnels. It worsened his headache.

“Shiro.” Keith scrambled to his side and laid a careful hand on his shoulder. “What was _that_? What happened?”

“Are you coming?” the alien grumbled.

“Just _give_ us a sec!” Keith snapped. “He’s injured!”

“My apologies, sir,” Allura paused to cast a reprimanding glare at Keith. “We are right behind you.”

Keith pretended not to have seen it and focused on Shiro. “Hey,” he said, voice going soft, “think you can you stand?”

Shiro forced his eyes to open and summoned the strength to put on a small smile. “Yeah,” he breathed. “Sorry. Just… help me up?”

Keith fought to hide his alarm at the request. “…Sure thing.”

Allura and Keith hefted him upright, and then caught him when the quick movement made him lose balance. The alien had continued walking without them, but he was moving slower now and was still in sight. Assuming their previous positions—Allura on one side of Shiro and Keith on the other side, his arms over their shoulders—they stumbled after him and took the far left tunnel.

The rocky floor leaned down, leading deeper into the heart of the planet. They walked for what felt like hours, and all the while Shiro’s condition slowly grew worse.

“How are you feeling?” Allura asked quietly. The big alien was a few yards ahead of them, far enough away that it was a little safer, but close enough that they didn’t lose their guide.

They could all tell that the walk was hard on Shiro, but he continued to insist that he was okay. “I can handle it,” he’d say, even as sweat poured down his face in the cool, stagnant air.

Allura glanced at Keith over Shiro’s lowered head. “And how are you holding up, Keith?”

“Hanging in there,” he said, voice tired. “How’s your arm?”

“It’s healing quite well. Still rather sore, but nothing like before.”

“Good. We’re gonna need all the help we can get if we want to make it out of here.”

They kept walking on in silence for a while, listening to the light slapping of their feet on the rocks and Shiro’s heavy breaths. Every once in a while Keith’s stomach would twinge uncomfortably, but it wasn’t just one of his gut feelings. It was more like small flashes of… nausea?

_Great_. Now he was getting sick, too? They didn’t have time for this.

The more he thought about the possibility of coming down with whatever virus Shiro had caught, the more it seemed a reality. He needed to distract himself, get his mind off it. If he was getting sick, dwelling on it would just make things worse. He couldn’t let it take him like it had Shiro.

“What kind of deal did you make?” Keith whispered to Allura, partly curious and partly needing a distraction. Shiro seemed to perk up a little at his question. He probably needed a distraction more than Keith did.

“I ran into their leader while looking for both of you. He sent out a few of his men to help me find you—”

“Is that who that guy was?”

“I believe so. I am sorry he was rough with you.”

Keith shrugged a shoulder. “Nah, he wasn’t that bad.”

“Really? Because the two of you look terrible. Your clothes reek of blood.”

Keith focused on the ground passing underneath their feet. “Uh… we had a little skirmish with a different cave dweller.”

“Oh?”

“We’re getting off-topic. What kind of deal did you make with this Kinek guy? If he’s anything like his crony over there, then I don’t trust him.”

“He isn’t. Kinek is much more refined and less…” She lowered her voice. “… _uncouth_. He is a smart man, and I think that he would be a formidable presence in battle. This people will be a wonderful addition to our coalition if we can convince them to join us.”

“Is that why you made a deal with them?”

“Partially. Also because—”

Shiro tripped over an unnoticed rock, and Keith and Allura barely kept him from dragging all three of them down. Shiro mumbled a tired apology as they readjusted their positions. They continued walking.

Was it just Keith, or did Shiro feel a little heavier? He shoved the thought into the back of his mind and ignored it.

“…Also because?” he asked Allura, as they settled back into their rhythm.

“Because we are out of water, food, and medical supplies, and now we also need a guide to get us out of these endless caves.” She paused, her delicate brow furrowing. “They requested my assistance because I have an ability that they do not.”

“Your magic?” A twinge of suspicion mixed with the sick twisting in Keith’s stomach.

Allura nodded. “Kinek said that deep within these caves, at the core of the planet, there is a device that protects their planet from invasions. It’s how they’ve avoided the Galra all these years. But now that device is wearing down, and they need my help to fix it. In return, they will give us food, water, and safe passage to the capitol.”

“What about the medical supplies?”

“Kinek said that they do not have much, but he thinks he may know what is causing Shiro’s suffering. If his reasoning is correct, and I follow through with my promise, then he gaurantees that he will cure Shiro’s illness completely.”

“I don’t know, Allura,” Keith said, keeping his voice lowered so that their guide couldn’t overhear. “Something about it doesn’t feel right.”

Allura pursed her lips. “Your instincts are hardly ever wrong, Keith. But so are my evaluations of character. However, we both have made mistakes by listening to our feelings too much. What do you think, Shiro?”

When he didn’t respond immediately, Keith began to worry. Right as he was about to suggest a break, Shiro answered in a tired voice, “Keith’s right. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.” He paused to gather more breath. “Keep your eyes open. If this is a trap… I’m afraid I won’t be much help.”

Keith swallowed quietly. Shiro’s illness must be getting pretty bad for him to admit that out loud, especially with someone besides Keith able to hear him.

They rounded a bend and saw an opening at the end of the tunnel. The alien stepped aside to allow them to enter.

A flash of heat washed through Shiro’s body, despite the air temperature remaining steady. The nausea boiled angrily in his gut.

“Put…” he cringed with discomfort. “Put me down… _Please_.”

Keith immediately helped him sit by the cave exit. Shiro’s legs gave out at the last second, and he dropped, using his knees and hands to put pressure on his stomach. It didn’t relieve the pain.

Keith stood sharply— _too fast,_ his vision danced; he closed his eyes and waited for it to clear—and asked Allura, “Get Kinek. Ask him to cure Shiro, _now_. You’ll have to hold up your end of the bargain afterward.”

When his vision returned to normal, he saw that Allura was no longer beside him. He glanced around and nearly bumped into the big alien guide.

“Watch it,” the guy snapped.

“Where’s Allura?” Keith felt the hair on the back of his neck begin to rise. His head started to pound— whether that was from nervousness or the illness he’d caught, he wasn’t sure.

The big alien’s ugly face stretched into a wide, toothy grin.

Alarms went off in Keith’s head. He held his ground by Shiro’s side.

“She’s helping Leader Kinek with a project,” the big guy said, towering over him. He looked over Keith’s head at someone. Made a weird motion with his head. Keith turned, hackles raised, ready to fight.

Four little aliens of the same species—which meant they were about eye-to-eye with Keith— looked at him innocently. They looked like children. At the same time, Shiro let out a pained groan, and the two combined threw Keith off-guard for the slightest second.

That was all it took for the hulking alien to hit him over the head with a giant fist, and the world went black.

 

 

Pain shot through Keith’s ribs. His eyes flew open.

“ _Finally_ ,” came a male voice. “Hey, Boss, he’s awake.”

Keith was lying in a dark room—no, a cave— and the aliens who had knocked him out were standing around him. His head throbbed with each heartbeat. He felt his entire body beginning to bruise. They must have dragged him. Or beat him. Maybe both. His body sure couldn’t tell a difference.

Their traitorous guide knelt in front of him and grabbed his wrists. That finished waking him up.

“Hey!” Keith yanked his arms back, but the alien was stronger. “Let go of me!”

The guy ignored him and pulled his arms up until Keith was forced to sit against the wall. He struggled, but each of the alien’s fists were about the size of Keith’s head. His efforts were futile.

With a clank, cold metal snapped shut around each wrist. He glanced at the cuffs holding his hands above his head and scowled. “What is this for?” he barked. “We didn’t do anything!”

The alien stood and continued to ignore him. Now that his sightpath was clear, Keith’s attention was pulled to the center of the room. There stood a machine so tall that it reached the ceiling of the cave. It was shaped like a huge console of some sort, its metal smooth but definitely old. Little windows to the inside glowed bright yellow. It hummed with life, but there were no moving parts as far as Keith could see.

_What_ is _that thing?_

“Why are you restraining him? Release him immediately.”

Keith found Allura standing near the device— its size dwarfed her in comparison—and she was speaking to a tall, slender alien of the same species as their guide. A native, then. Probably Kinek. The man had a pleasant, patient look on his face, as if he was enjoying himself. And here Keith was in shackles.

He already hated the guy.

“I’m afraid we need him to be restrained. He appears to be the compulsive type, and we cannot have him interfering at the wrong time. He might wind up like Bip and Ronik—you remember me speaking of them, yes?”

Allura’s face grew downcast. “I do.” She looked at Keith. “Two of their former comrades attempted to fix this device to save their planet, but they were not trained for the task and got too close… They were incinerated on the spot.”

Keith’s brows shot up.

“For your own safety, Keith,” she continued, “it is better for you to stay put. I’m sorry. This won’t take long. You understand, right?”

If it was to save the planet… “Yeah,” Keith grumbled. He shifted against the rocks in a feeble attempt to get more comfortable. He resigned himself to wait it out—though he would keep his guard up, just in case. “Where’s Shiro?”

A brief glimpse of worry flashed over her face before she subdued it. “He’s over there. I’m afraid his illness is worse than ever.”

Keith followed her gesture and spotted the glint of Shiro’s metal arm. There were quite a few aliens blocking Keith’s view of anything but Shiro’s arm and feet, though. At least it appeared that they hadn’t locked him up like they had Keith. That was good.

Allura turned to face Kinek. “Now, how exactly does this work?”

Kinek shrugged. “After your friend uses his Galra weaponry to deactivate the safety seals, you will recharge the device by using your Altean magic. It is that simple.”

“Safety seals?” Keith spluttered. “Shiro has to _touch_ that thing?”

“Yes,” Kinek said plainly.

“But—he’s in no condition to—you just said that’s how those other guys _died_!”

“Listen, runt, he doesn’t have any other options. The reason he is ill is because of the device’s power-waves.”

Suddenly it all clicked into place. “You mean, like… radiation poisoning?”

Allura’s mouth dropped. “It wasn’t something in the planet’s atmosphere, then. The closer we were to the device, the stronger the radiation, the weaker he became.”

_Humans must be more susceptible to radiation than Alteans or the Galra. That’s why it’s affecting me, too, but not as much as Shiro…_

Kinek crossed his blue-skinned arms. “Yes, and if we do not fix my device, then he will have no choice but to continue suffering until it kills him.”

Keith’s stomach dropped.

Kinek sniffed. “And if my senses are correct,” he glanced sideways at Keith, “you will be next.”

“So. Shiro either dies from not deactivating the seals, or he dies from attempting to activate them.” Keith fastened the tall alien with a steady glare. “Why don’t you just let us go and wait until after he rests up? He’s been fighting that thing’s radiation for two days straight—at least. Give him a chance to heal first. He could hardly walk an hour ago.”

Kinek glanced at his men, then back at Keith. “Then what guaruntee would I have that you three would keep your word?”

“We are paladins of Voltron, Kinek,” Allura said. “You have our word.”

Kinek thought for a moment. “That is not good enough in my line of work.”

Allura’s expression grew dark.

“Boys, get to it,” Kinek spoke to the group of aliens near Shiro. They bent down and began to pick him up. Keith could hear him groan in pain from across the room. He _hated_ _it_.

“Wait,” Allura shouted. They froze. Keith could see Shiro’s face clearly now. His hair had stuck to his forehead with sweat, and his skin had gone pale. Keith’s fingers curled up into fists.

“Kinek, may I inspect the device first?” Allura said. “We may not even need to deactivate the safety seals in order to repair it.”

Kinek scowled. “I already know what’s wrong with it. It needs to be recharged.”

Allura matched his determined expression. “Then let me at least see if I can find the least dangerous way for Shiro to complete his task.”

The blue-skinned leader huffed. “Fine. But every second you waste is another that your friend has to suffer.”

Allura nodded, solemn, and she approached the device. Keith wished he could _do_ something. But his wrists were shackled tight, and his sheathed blade was out of reach.

Carefully, Allura lifted her hands and touched the metal of the device. She moved her hands across the smooth surface, simply feeling and studying. She moved around to the other side. Keith squirmed with impatience.

She gasped. “This… this mark,” she said, eyes wide. She turned to Kinek. “How did you acquire this device?”

“I found it here.” Kinek sounded bored. “It’s been here so long, no one knows about it anymore except me and my crew.”

Allura stepped back from the device. She stared at it. Was that… _fear_ in her eyes?

Keith straightened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“This device bears the crest of the Great Alliance. The one that fell ten thousand years ago, when Zarkon attacked Altea.” She glanced at her feet. “It was a joint effort by Altean and Galra engineers, a sign of our peace, but after the high doses of radiation killed thirty of our greatest scientists, my father ordered it to be shut down. But…” She trailed off, looking at the crest again. “This is a _working_ _model_. Our experiments never got this far. It runs on pure quintessence. The Galra must have kept the project running in secret after we ordered it to be shut down. They moved the operation here and set this one in motion. I bet that it hasn’t needed a recharge since they started it millenia ago.”

Kinek had seemed mildly interested at this point, until Allura turned to pierce him with a suspicious glare. “And it won’t need to be recharged for at least _another_ millenia, Kinek.”

His eyes widened, just a fraction.

“You don’t need me to fix this device. You want me to unlock the rest of its power. But surely you don’t understand what that means?”

Kinek uncrossed his arms. “I know there’s a chance it will blow this entire planet to the Plaxuri Sector, but you don’t understand. Death— extinction, even— would be far better than what might happen to our people if the wrong person caught us vulnerable. The Galra, the Pippal race, even Voltron. I will not let my people live under the dominion of your petty foot. It would be better if we were _wiped from existence_.”

Allura was taken aback for a moment. Keith could practically hear her heart breaking. Her voice grew low. “You know _nothing_ of the fate you speak.”

“Then you will not follow through on your promise?” Kinek asked.

Allura’s posture grew tense. “I promised that I would help you fix the device, but it is not broken. I am freed from my commitment by _your_ very own deceit.”

Kinek frowned. His face was even uglier like that. “Hm,” he sighed. “And that is why the runt’s participation was crucial.”

The ex-guide’s huge fist crashed into Keith’s stomach. The air was knocked out of him with a painful _oof_.

“Keith!” Allura cried. She turned on Kinek. “You dishonorable liar!”

Kinek shook his head. “You are the one who agreed to this, Beautiful.”

She bristled with anger. “I did no such thing.”

“If you try to escape, the runt suffers. If you try to keep your human friend from doing his job, the runt gets it. Do you see how this works?”

_Runt?!_ Keith glared at Kinek’s back.

Allura’s delicate hands balled into tight fists. “ _Yes_ ,” she ground out.

“Good. Then let us begin.” He nodded toward Shiro’s captors, and they jostled him to a stand once more. Well, a half-stand. They dragged him forward by the arms, and he… didn’t put up a fight. His only struggle was to keep up with them. Why wasn’t he fighting?

Keith wheezed, watching helplessly as Shiro was pulled toward the device. His breath hadn’t returned enough for him to speak his mind—though it was probably good that he couldn’t. He grit his teeth instead and glanced at Allura. Their eyes met. She mouthed a single word.

Keith squinted as she repeated the word, slower. More deliberate. _Bull… sack? No… bull-ack?_ His brow furrowed. _Black?_

She nodded once, a tiny dip of the head. She broke eye contact and Keith heard Shiro yell.

“Get up, human,” one of his captors said. Shiro was lying on the ground at their feet. He must’ve fallen. Keith could hear his heavy breaths. “This is as far as we can go. Now, move!” The tallest alien kicked Shiro’s leg—his injured one. Shiro grunted loudly. When he didn’t get up, the alien stepped on the bandage. Shiro cried out.

“Stop it,” Keith rasped. Pleaded.

“Let me help him,” Allura demanded. Kinek studied her for a moment before checking to see if Keith was still secured, and then he shrugged. Allura ran to Shiro’s side and pulled his human arm over her shoulder as before. She stood, and Keith could tell that she was bearing all the weight. _Not good_. The group around them backed away, glad to put distance between them and the deadly device.

Keith watched the two paladins draw near the glowing contraption, his breath bated. Anger boiled in his stomach and mixed with nausea from the radiation, making him physically sick with dread. He thought he saw Allura tell Shiro something in the ear, but he couldn’t be sure.

_The color black?_ he thought, pondering what she could have— _oh_.

_She wants me to contact the Black Lion._ He swallowed. _But that’s Shiro’s—no. He’s too occupied right now with just staying alive. I’ll… I guess I can try. For them._

He closed his eyes but found that it only made him worry about the other two more, so he allowed his eyes to stay glued to the scene in front of him as he mentally called out to the Black Lion. He called out, waited for a response, and called again—each time there was no reply. He kept trying.

 

With Allura’s help, Shiro reached the device. Wearily, he lifted his Galra hand to the place she indicated. He hesitated. His indecision was palpable. Allura was telling him something. He kept glancing from her, to the thing, to Keith, and back to her.

Luckily for Keith, his breath was back. “Don’t do it!” he cried. _If he deactivates the safety seals, it’s one step closer to blowing the planet to smithereens. He_ can’t _._

Unluckily for Keith, Kinek didn’t like his interference and decided to give Shiro the incentive to continue.

Kinek’s hand blurred as moved with lightning speed. Suddenly a knife was in his blue hand, and he thrust it at Keith.

The blade had just missed his head. Kinek smirked.

There was a pinching sensation in his arm, and Keith looked at it in shock.

His very own Marmora blade stuck out of his left bicep, missing the bone but catching enough muscle to pin him and cause damage. Warmth began to trickle down his raised arm, the red seeping out of the wound and running down his armpit to his bruised side.

Then time seemed to catch up with him, and with it came a terrible pain lacing through the wound like a lightning strike. He clenched his jaw so tight he thought he’d break a tooth. He wouldn’t scream. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t give them that satisfaction. _He wouldn’t scream._

“Keith!” Shiro cried out in alarm.

Kinek hummed, standing over him thoughtfully. “You are a lot tougher than I bargained, runt.” He grabbed the handle of the knife, obviously preparing to twist the knife where it was buried in his flesh.

_No, no, no, don’t wrench it, please—_

Allura rammed into Kinek full-force. They toppled over.

The knife jolted sideways out of Kinek’s grasp, elongating the wound with a clean cut. Less agonizing than twisting the blade, but now the wound was longer. More blood seeped out. A quiet moan escaped Keith’s control. He fought the urge to thrash in pain; that would only make it worse.

“Shiro, now!” Allura yelled. Shiro’s prosthetic lit up, and three identical circles embedded in the metal ceased their glow. His arm deactivated and he collapsed at the foot of the device. The quintessence inside it burned brighter.

Even as pain spiked through him, Keith managed to grit out, “Allura, get Shiro!”

She released her hold on Kinek— it looked like she had dislocated his shoulder— and ran to Shiro. She picked him up easily and set him near the cave exit. The metallic surface of the device almost looked like liquid metal now that the safety seals were deactivated. Its electric hum had grown into a roar.

Kinek’s henchmen began to surround Allura, but Kinek waved them off. “She has to unlock the device, you fools! Get the other one!”

They turned and looked at Shiro, who laid on the ground nearby. They shrugged and lazily guarded him. It was obvious he wasn’t going anywhere in his condition. If even the guards could tell that… Keith’s fear spiked.

Allura put both hands on the device. “Stand back,” she yelled over the increasing noise of the device. Everyone gave her plenty of room.

She closed her eyes, and the device’s surface beneath her fingertips began to glow. Soon, her entire body was radiating light, and the metal reflected it into every crevice and shadow in the cave. It grew brighter until Keith had to shut his eyes and duck his head to protect his sight. Immense heat flushed over his skin and dug into his arm’s wound like daggers. The roar of the device overpowered the other aliens’ screams of terror. Keith could do nothing but brace himself and hang on tight.

 

 

 

When the light finally faded, it cast the entire cave into darkness. The contrast between the previous nova-like brightness and this sudden darkness was startling. Keith lifted his head but could see nothing. He felt the heat in the room die down to its previous cool temperature, but his side was still soaked with warm blood. The thought that he could be bleeding out scared him, even if he knew that was unlikely in the little time that had passed. He focused his attention outward, into the darkness, listening to the near-complete silence. What had happened?

Then a soft, pink glow appeared in the center of the room, giving a gentle, calming light to the entire cave. Everyone was on the ground, huddled in fear or simply passed-out. He couldn’t make out which body was Shiro, or Kinek. The glow grew taller and Keith realized it was Allura standing up. _She…_ He blinked. She was _glowing._

She turned around and caught him gaping. She grinned. Keith hastily shut his mouth, then winced when his teeth were sore.

She hurried over to him and knelt to inspect the knife wound. “I can’t believe he used your own knife against you,” she whispered. She put one hand on his bicep and the other around the sword handle. Keith bared his teeth. There was a sharp pain like a gigantic needle prick, and then the knife was out. Allura skillfully covered the wound with her hand and applied pressure. Keith couldn’t help but squirm a little. He fought back a whimper. That would be embarrassing.

Then, to his astonishment, the bleeding stopped. Allura drew back her blood-covered hand.

Keith looked at his arm. The wound was closed. “Wh…what?” He tried to move it and instantly regretted it as the familiar pain laced down his arm. “Ow.”

“Try not to move it too much. I just closed the skin to stop the bleeding. There’s still plenty of muscle tissue damaged in there.”

Keith grimaced. “I noticed.”

Allura found Kinek beginning to stir. She kicked him in the head to return him to unconsciousness. “That’s for almost killing my teammates,” she muttered. She located the keys to Keith’s cuffs and freed him. “We need to hurry,” she said. “Get a head’s start while we can.”

Keith re-sheathed the knife before picking his way through the unconscious aliens scattered across the ground. Allura followed, her presence giving off enough light to see by.

“There,” Allura whispered, pointing to Shiro’s prostrate form.Keith moved to take his normal support position, but Allura scolded him. “Your arm is injured, Keith, how are you supposed to—”

“You!” Kinek said, rubbing his head as he sat up.

“Time’s up,” Keith muttered, and slung Shiro’s arm around his shoulder, avoiding the use of his injured arm. Allura grumbled and took her place on the opposite side of him. Shiro was an absolute deadweight this time. It made each step painfully slow, and Kinek was getting to his feet behind them.

“What did you _do_?” Kinek screeched.

“Instead of energizing your device, I did the opposite,” Allura quipped as they pulled Shiro away. “I drained all of its quintessence and absorbed it into myself.” Her tone wasn’t quite _happy_ , but more… smug?

“You destroyed my device,” Kinek said in a whisper. “No… _no_ ,” he mumbled with horror as he stared at the remnants of the empty shell of metal.

Keith glanced down at Shiro’s limp form between them. This side of his face was cast in shadow from Allura’s faint glow. Keith could feel his short, ragged breaths vibrating through them.

“Get up!” Kinek yelled, loud and fierce. There was a _thud_. “Get up, all of you!” Another _thud_. Keith cast a glance over his shoulder and saw the blue-skinned leader kicking his unconscious crew. He faced forward again. They had almost reached the exit.

A few groans sounded from behind as the crew awoke. Kinek continued to yell at them. Keith heard footsteps. “Get them!” Kinek demanded. “Kill them!”

“We aren’t going fast enough,” Keith whispered. Each step jostled his arm.

Allura stopped, forcing Keith to follow suit. She shoved Keith’s shoulder out from underneath Shiro’s arm and caught him. “I apologize, Keith,” she said as she hastily scooped Shiro up in her arms, “but you’re right. This is the only way we can make it.”

Keith huffed but reluctantly agreed. She grew taller to accomodate her burden. She started off at a brisk walk, but with her increased height, Keith had to jog to keep up with her. Their pace increased as the sounds of the aliens behind them grew louder. They were in hot pursuit.

“Did you contact your lion?” Allura asked, slightly out of breath.

“Black is _not_ my lion,” Keith snapped. _How dare she say that when Shiro is right here._ “And no, I wasn’t able to contact her.”

“You have to keep trying. She is our only chance of getting out of here alive. If we hope to find our way out of here, she has to be within range for me to feel and follow her presence.”

“Fine.” Keith’s brow furrowed in concentration.

_Hey, Black Lion? We could use a little help, here._

He waited. No answer.

“Maybe we’re out of range?”

They turned a corner. Keith’s ribs were beginning to remind him of their prior bruising.

“That is ridiculous. The Red Lion found us in the middle of space all the way from Taujeer. This is no different.”

“Yes, it is,” Keith insisted. “Red was _my_ lion, we… bonded, somehow. She knew me. But… _Shiro_ is the Black Lion. Even when we were hurtling toward death in the middle of the desert, the Black Lion _still_ wouldn’t respond to me.”

“Keith, you have to keep trying, otherwise this is all for naught. Does Shiro look like he’s in any position to try contacting the Black Lion himself?”

Keith glanced at Shiro’s lifeless form bouncing lightly in rhytym with Allura’s stride. A tiny trickle of blood glinted off his chin from where it dribbled out of his mouth. He glanced at the rock-strewn floor underneath his feet.

“No,” he said quietly.

“Try again, then. Besides, I think that device was the reason our connection to our lions was hampered. It was emitting a specific type of radiation that interfered with the armor and our communication to the Castle. Now that it’s destroyed, you should have a better chance at reaching the Black Lion. I can’t contact Blue because the radiation I’ve absorbed hasn’t finished siphoning out as this pink light yet.”

“Okay,” Keith said reluctantly. “I’ll keep trying.”

_Black? Are you there? We—_ “Agh!” Keith stumbled and fell as pain shot through his thigh. The leg of his flight suit darkened. He’d been shot. “Allura, get cover!”

She ducked into a small side tunnel as the energy blasts flew by. Keith covered his head and hoped a flatter target would be easier to miss.

“Are you all right?” She yelled past the loud shots of blaster rifles.

Keith lifted his head and spotted a small boulder to his right. He rolled behind it as the next round of fire tore up the ground behind him. “I’m okay,” he yelled back. No good letting the enemy know they got him.

_What am I doing wrong? You have to hear me!_ Keith used his good hand to apply pressure to his leg. It was bleeding a lot faster than his arm had been. That was partially due to the fact that his arm had been raised above his heart, and, well, that was hard to do with a leg. Especially in enemy territory.

“We hit one of them!” shouted a nasly voice. “I can smell its blood, leader!”

Keith sucked in a breath. _So much for that._

“Attack!” Kinek ordered. “We have them pinned!”

Numerous footsteps scurried forward. The blasts increased in intensity around his boulder and Allura’s alcove. The angle of the shots drew smaller as the blue-skins approached. Soon they’d be shooting around the boulder, and his cover would be gone. Kinek didn’t need them alive anymore.

_Please, Black. We need your help._

_Shiro needs your help._

I _need your help._

A chunk of the boulder blew off past Keith’s shoulder. He ducked in even tighter.

_Black, where_ are _you?!_

“Keith, look out!”

He glanced up just in time to see Kinek lower a gun-like weapon into his face.

The last thing Keith saw was that ugly grin.

 

 

 

 

There was a deafening crash as the ceiling caved in. Rocks and chunks of earth collapsed into the middle of the tunnel. Kinek and his crew were crushed before Keith could even blink. Dirt clouded his eyes and dust clogged his nostrils. Then all was silent. He coughed.

The dust settled somewhat, and Keith lifted his head. The pink glow was gone.

“Allura?” He pushed himself to his knees. “Allura!”

He picked himself up, using the boulder to steady himself as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. In his peripheral, a faint pink shone behind a large rock.

Keith scrambled up the mountain of rubble in the the middle of the tunnel, oblivious to the fresh night air caressing his skin as he reached the top and slid down the other side. “Allura, can you hear me? Shiro?”

He landed and crawled over a large boulder in the way. He squeezed in between two rocks and ducked into the tiny alcove.

Back to her original size, Allura sat up against the wall, Shiro placed on the side farthest from the ruckus in the main tunnel. Miraculously, the boulder above them had fallen at such an angle that it acted like a roof above their heads and shielded them from the worst of the cave-in. But Allura’s eyes were closed, and her forehead was bleeding.

Keith touched her neck. He sighed with relief when he felt her strong pulse.

He reached around her with his good arm, ignoring the way kneeling like this was irritating his wounded thigh, and took Shiro’s real wrist. He waited. As the instant of nothing became a second of nothing, and then two seconds of nothing, his fear almost strangled him.

There was a gentle purr, loud but comforting, and Shiro’s blood pulsed faintly beneath Keith’s fingertip. He let out a huge sigh.

Then he realized what had purred, and he whipped around so fast that he lost his balance and fell on his seat.

“Black?” he asked quietly, staring up at the darkness of what used to be the cave’s ceiling. As if in response, two gentle yellow hues glowed in the opening.

Keith grinned.

Little pinpricks of light shone through the fallen dust, framing Black’s eyes like the canopy of the universe.

Stars.

The cool night breeze blew through his bangs. He breathed in, deep, relishing the clean air.

The yellow eyes glowed brighter, as if rejoicing with him. The Black Lion’s jaw lowered, and through the haze Keith saw the ramp open toward him.

But this time, he wasn’t filled with dread at the sight. He was simply glad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Wait, wait, wait. Shiro got half-eaten by a _what_?!” Lance squawked.

Keith grinned. “By a spider the size of a bus with the tentacles of an octopus.”

He carefully manuevered his crutches—well, alien versions of them, at least— to sit down in the lounge cushions. His arm was in a sling while he waited for Coran to finish helping Shiro into a pod, then he was scheduled for a visit himself.

Pidge pushed her glasses further up her nose. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?”

Keith just smirked and sipped his space juice as Coran walked into the room. “How’s he holding up?”

Coran’s mustache twitched into a fond grin. “Shiro’s doing mighty fine now, thanks to you and Allura. He’s recovering quite nicely— should be out of the pod in a few more vargas. That radiation poisioning is a serious threat.”

“Radiation?” Hunk asked. “I bet that’s why we weren’t able to contact anyone in the city to ask about your location.”

Keith blinked. “Actually, yeah… How’d you figure that out so quick? It took us forever.”

“He’s a genius,” Pidge said proudly and punched him in the arm. Hunk didn’t hide his smug grin.

“Hey, is Allura back yet from that ceremony thingy in the city?” Lance asked Coran. “Why couldn’t we go again?”

“Yes, she’s back—”

“How’d it go?” Pidge interrupted.

“—and you couldn’t go, Lance, because she was already there by the time Keith called us from the captial building.”

“Aww.” Lance pouted. “But I like parties.”

“Trust me, you would’ve hated this one.” Keith took another sip of juice. “It’s basically a council meeting that lasts four hours and lectures you on every legality and custom of their people. I barely got out of it, and that was just because I had to bring Shiro back here and get him in a cryopod.”

Lance grumbled. “You’re just saying that ‘cause you hate parties. There were probably some really pretty blue-skinned girls in attendence and you just wimped out.” Keith was too tired to come up with a comeback, so he settled for simply rolling his eyes.

“Pidge asked how the ceremony went?” Hunk cut in.

“Well,” Coran said, “Let’s just say that, although the Laxuriz are now officially part of the Coalition—thus the mission was a success—it will be quite awhile before Princess Allura will have the patience to visit them again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The end.)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it! Also, comments make my day :)
> 
> Many thanks to LittleWhiteTie for helping me work out the kinks in my outline and world-building!! This mini bang was a blast!

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: Now the fic is two chapters instead of a oneshot. Thanks for reading!


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